
Prosus chief investment officer Ervin Tu to step down
Prosus' vision and strategy has changed significantly over the past 10 months under CEO Fabricio Bloisi, transforming the company from an investment holding group into an operating technology company, focused on lifestyle ecommerce, within its key markets of Latin America, India and Europe. As a result, Tu feels that now is the right time to move on, said the company, controlled by South Africa's Naspers .
Tired of too many ads?
Remove Ads
Tired of too many ads?
Remove Ads
Dutch technology investor Prosus said on Tuesday that Ervin Tu , the group's President and Chief Investment Officer will step down from his role.Tu will remain in his role as an advisor to the group, the company's statement added.Prosus' vision and strategy has changed significantly over the past 10 months under CEO Fabricio Bloisi , transforming the company from an investment holding group into an operating technology company, focused on lifestyle ecommerce, within its key markets of Latin America, India and Europe.As a result, Tu feels that now is the right time to move on, said the company, controlled by South Africa's Naspers "I have enjoyed my time with the group immensely, I've accomplished what I wanted to achieve, and the Group is in very good hands," Tu said.Since he joined in August 2021, Tu has led important group initiatives, such as simplifying the group's structure, improving group-wide financial performance , implementing the ongoing share repurchase programme, and enhancing the operations of the investment team, Prosus said."Ervin has made significant contributions to our people, strategy and capital allocation - as CIO, as interim CEO and as President. I am very grateful to him for his counsel and support," Bloisi added.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)

Business Standard
a day ago
- Business Standard
Tata Steel bets big on India growth, says Chairman N Chandrasekaran
India remains the fastest-growing major economy, with growth supported by favourable demographics, ongoing structural reforms, low inflation, and targeted fiscal incentives, Chairman of Tata Steel N Chandrasekaran said in a letter to shareholders. 'A combination of rate cuts, higher capital expenditure, and tax benefits is expected to drive private investment and discretionary consumption,' he said, adding that India is poised to lead global steel consumption by 2026. Chandra said global steel output in FY2024-25 was stable at 1.83 billion tonnes, but despite this, margins remained under pressure due to supply chain volatility, although coking coal prices were lower. India's steel sector outperformed global peers, with crude steel output rising 4.7 per cent on a year-on-year basis and steel consumption surging 10.2 per cent year-on-year. The growth was driven by construction, urbanisation, and industrial activity, he said. In India, the company ran operations at near full capacity utilisation across sites, with highest-ever crude steel production of 21.7 million tonnes and deliveries of 20.9 million tonnes. The company commissioned India's largest blast furnace (5 MTPA) at Kalinganagar — part of the ₹27,000 crore Phase II expansion — while Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL) delivered strong performance with ₹1,000 crore EBITDA and generated positive free cash flow, Chandrasekaran said. In Europe, Tata Steel is advancing a major transition to low-emission steelmaking. In the UK, two blast furnaces at Port Talbot have been decommissioned to make way for a next-generation electric arc furnace (EAF) backed by £500 million in UK government funding. Construction begins in July this year, with fixed costs targeted to decline from £762 million to £540 million in FY2025-26. In the Netherlands, the company ran at near-rated capacity while progressing on a decarbonisation roadmap. Tata Steel Nederland is finalising a joint Letter of Intent with the Dutch government to support a shift to DRI-EAF-based steelmaking, with one blast furnace and one coke oven to be retired by 2030. A €500 million cost transformation plan is also underway. Tata Steel CEO & MD T.V. Narendran and ED & CFO Koushik Chatterjee reaffirmed focus on capex, efficiency, and sustainability as levers for future growth. On the deleveraging front, the company reduced net debt by ₹6,200 crore in H2 FY2024-25 to ₹82,579 crore. 'The company will stay the course in FY2025-26 by improving cash flows through cost take-out initiatives and operational efficiencies to bring down our debt level further,' the officials said.

Mint
2 days ago
- Mint
Want even tinier chips? Use a particle accelerator
Semiconductor chips are among the smallest and most detailed objects humans can manufacture. Shrinking the scale and upping the complexity is a fight against the limits of physics, and optical lithography—etching nanometre-scale patterns onto silicon with short-wavelength light—is its most extreme frontier. ASML , a Dutch firm that builds such lithography tools, takes an almost sci-fi approach by blasting molten tin droplets with lasers in a vacuum to produce extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light with a wavelength of just 13.5nm. Now, some researchers hope to generate more powerful EUV beams with a particle accelerator that propels electrons to nearly the speed of light. The need for this radical proposal stems from a fundamental limitation of current EUV sources: they struggle to generate enough power to reliably etch circuits onto silicon. In a lithography tool such as ASML's, the EUV beam bounces off nearly a dozen mirrors before it hits the silicon. EUV light is so easily absorbed, though, that even in a vacuum-sealed chamber with ultra-specialised mirrors, each reflection saps 30% of the light's energy. By the time the photons reach the wafer, less than 2% of the original EUV energy remains. Without enough power, reliability and precision plummet. One way to boost energy is to bombard the wafer with multiple doses of EUV light, a trick that slows down the chip-manufacturing process. The other approach is to increase the power of the photons. ASML's latest rig uses a light source that operates at 500 watts, nearly twice the power of its previous machines. To speed up production or to shrink feature sizes even further, the light source must get stronger. ASML currently has a road map to develop a one kilowatt light source. A more radical solution is to use a free-electron laser (FEL), where electrons travelling near the speed of light are manipulated to emit EUV radiation. The FEL process begins with a powerful electron gun that injects a beam of the particles into a miniature racetrack. The electrons then pass through a linear accelerator, which propels them to nearly the speed of light. Once accelerated, they enter a roughly 200-metre-long structure called an undulator, where a series of magnets generate a field whose polarity flips periodically. This wiggles the electrons, causing them to emit a beam of EUV photons with a specific wavelength. Nicholas Kelez, the boss of xLight, a Silicon Valley startup developing FEL-based lithography, described the technology as a more powerful and tuneable 'new light bulb" that he believes can be swapped into existing optical lithography machines. xLight expects to deliver the first commercial system within four years. Another research group, at the High Energy Accelerator Research Organisation (KEK) in Japan, has already demonstrated the ability to generate light at 20 micrometres (millionths of a metre)—far longer than the 13.5nm wavelengths ASML is capable of but a step towards refining the process. Chinese researchers are also exploring FEL technology in their quest to develop an independent EUV machine. Generating light using a FEL has some advantages over using lasers. The first is power: a lithography machine based on a FEL-based light source can be around six times more energy-efficient than a laser-plasma tool. Dispensing with molten-tin droplets also reduces the risk of contamination. Tuning such a machine for smaller wavelengths is also, at least theoretically, much easier: all that needs doing is tweaking the settings on the electron gun and the undulator. It would also be cheaper. A single FEL system can be repurposed to provide light for multiple lithography machines, allowing its operator to distribute the fixed costs across multiple chip-etching tools. Nakamura Norio from KEK estimates that the construction cost is around half that of a laser-based EUV tool and the running costs are around a fifteenth. For now, all this is theoretical. Whereas ASML's EUV machines are proving themselves in high-volume manufacturing, FEL-based lithography is still in the experimental phase. But in the high-stakes world of chipmaking, any edge is worth chasing. Curious about the world? To enjoy our mind-expanding science coverage, sign up to Simply Science, our weekly subscriber-only newsletter.

The Hindu
2 days ago
- The Hindu
Manchester City transfer news: Ait-Nouri, Reijnders to join before FIFA Club World Cup 2025
Manchester City is close to a double swoop for Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Ait-Nouri in time for the Club World Cup, according to reports on Thursday. Wolves left-back Ait-Nouri is expected to complete a 34 million pounds (USD 45 million) move to the Etihad Stadium over the weekend, Sky Sports reported. An initial 46 million pounds deal for Dutch midfielder Reijnders has been agreed with AC Milan, along with add-ons potentially taking the transfer to 59 million pounds. City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak promised last week to conduct 'swift' transfer business in order to give Pep Guardiola's men the best chance of winning the Club World Cup. Lyon playmaker Rayan Cherki could also be signed in time for the tournament in the United States as negotiations between City and the French club are ongoing. An initial 46 million pounds deal for Dutch midfielder Reijnders has been agreed with AC Milan, along with add-ons potentially taking the transfer to 59 million pounds. | Photo Credit: REUTERS City will face Moroccan side Wydad AC and Emirati club Al Ain before a clash of European heavyweights with Juventus in the group stage, which kicks off on June 14. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016/17, City is hoping to bounce back quickly with a major overhaul of Guardiola's squad. It also spent more than 172 million pounds in January on Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Nico Gonzalez. The raft of new arrivals, however, could spell the end of England winger Jack Grealish's City career. Grealish, who remains City's record signing after a 100 million pounds move from Aston Villa in 2021, will reportedly be left out of Guardiola's 35-man squad for the Club World Cup.