Greek financial technology provider Qualco plans Athens listing
ATHENS -Greece-based financial technology provider Qualco plans to launch an initial public offering to list its shares on the Athens Stock Exchange, it said on Tuesday.
Qualco, which offers software for the credit industry and has operations in more than 30 countries, aims to raise up to 70 million euros from the share offering and use the proceeds to finance acquisitions in Greece or abroad and help grow its business, it said.
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Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Why China biotech is getting a DeepSeek moment too
Workers working at a Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine production line in Beijing in 2021. So far, the biotech industry is relatively insulated from Mr Trump's tariffs. PHOTO: XINHUA From artificial intelligence to military defence, China has offered a few DeepSeek moments in 2025 , showcasing that the country is more than just the world's biggest factory, and that it also can compete with the US on the technology front. Now biotech is having its own. In late May, Pfizer agreed to pay a record US$1.25 billion (S$1.6 billion) upfront to license an experimental cancer drug from Shenyang-based 3SBio, as well as making a US$100 million equity investment in the Hong Kong-listed biotech company. Two weeks later, Bristol Myers Squibb said it would pay BioNTech US$1.5 billion guaranteed to license a similar cancer asset. It was a win for BioNTech, which bought Biotheus, the Chinese company that developed the drug, late in 2024 for US$800 million. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
8 hours ago
- Straits Times
Jetstar Asia's exit shrinks options for consumers, but unlikely to dent Changi's hub status
News analysis Jetstar Asia's exit shrinks options for consumers, but unlikely to dent Changi's hub status SINGAPORE – Jetstar Asia's impending exit after more than two decades in Singapore is a blow to budget-conscious travellers, even if the low-cost airline's modest 3 per cent share of Changi Airport's traffic might suggest otherwise. Although Changi remains well-served by other budget carriers on busy routes such as Bali and Jakarta, Jetstar Asia's departure will sever non-stop links to four emerging holiday spots. The Singapore offshoot of Australia's Jetstar – which began operations in December 2004 – is the only airline that serves Okinawa in Japan, Wuxi in China , Labuan Bajo in Indonesia and Broome in Australia from Changi. While Changi Airport Group (CAG) has said it would work with other airlines to restore connectivity , the prospect of losing non-stop connections to these cities comes at a time when Singapore is looking to aggressively expand the number of destinations linked to Changi. The airport is connected to about 170 cities worldwide, and the target is to surpass 200 cities by the mid-2030s, when Terminal 5 opens. Maintaining as many air links as possible is good for airlines and consumers, especially when low fares are in the mix. This also strengthens Changi's competitiveness as a transit hub. Jetstar Asia, which is 49 per cent owned by Australia's Qantas and 51 per cent by Singapore company Westbrook Investments, cited higher airport fees and aviation charges, as well as intensifying competition, as reasons it had become unsustainable to continue operations at Changi. Mr Linus Benjamin Bauer, founder and managing director of aviation consultancy BAA & Partners, said rising costs are squeezing low-cost carriers. 'Many airlines still operate under pre-pandemic pricing models, but face a vastly more expensive cost base,' he said, adding that more exits or mergers, especially among smaller budget airlines, can be expected. The writing had been on the wall for some time for Jetstar Asia. It was the slowest of the three Singapore-based carriers – the others being Singapore Airlines (SIA) and its budget arm Scoot – to rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic. Its fleet of 13 Airbus A320 aircraft is down from 18 before the pandemic. Its move from Changi's Terminal 1 to Terminal 4 in March 2023 – which the airline protested publicly – also lengthened connecting times for passengers transferring to Qantas or its partner airlines. T4 is a distance from T1, where Qantas operates, for instance. When Singapore announced its latest round of airport fee hikes in November 2024 to fund improvements to Changi Airport and defray rising costs , Jetstar Asia had warned the increases would have an impact on its ability to offer low fares. It also noted that most of CAG's planned upgrades do not apply to T4, where it operates. Under the new fee structure, landing, parking and aerobridge charges for narrow-body jets such as the A320 will rise yearly, climbing from about $1,200 per landing before April 2025 to $1,725 in April 2030. Passenger fees will also go up in stages until the end of the decade. Passenger fees at Changi are already steeper than those in regional hubs such as Bangkok. While such costs are seen as necessary to help airports fund infrastructural improvements to meet future demand, the increases have made it increasingly difficult for low-cost carriers such as Jetstar Asia to keep air fares low – their key selling point – without passing the extra costs on to customers. 'Singapore has become a high-cost environment for a low-cost carrier, and Qantas Group and Jetstar feel they can get better returns on their assets in other markets,' said Mr Mayur Patel, Asia head at consultancy OAG Aviation. It does not help that in some cases, full-service carriers such as SIA can also offer low fares if tickets are booked early. This is because they have the flexibility of deploying wide-body or narrow-body aircraft, depending on demand. After its closure, Jetstar Asia's 13 planes will be redeployed progressively across the Qantas Group to support fleet renewal and growth in Australia and New Zealand in line with demand. The low-cost airline's closure comes as global demand for air travel remains strong. Airlines are expected to fly a record 4.99 billion passengers in 2025 – a 4 per cent increase from 2024 – according to the latest forecast from the International Air Transport Association. The Asia-Pacific region is driving this growth. So why has Jetstar Asia struggled to take advantage of this? This has partly to do with the intensity of competition on seven of the 16 routes that it serves, which are operated by at least three other airlines, data compiled by Mr Patel showed. Singapore-Bali is served by nine airlines including Jetstar Asia, Singapore-Jakarta by eight, and Singapore-Kuala Lumpur by seven. Even fellow low-cost carrier AirAsia has scaled back on some routes of late, likely due in part to higher operating costs. It dropped its Singapore-Ipoh and Singapore-Phuket services, and cut back flights to Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport earlier in 2025. Jetstar Asia's exit leaves SIA and Scoot as the only Singapore-based carriers. While consumers will have one less option, choices still abound, with one-fifth of the 100 airlines at Changi being low-cost carriers. Overall, they serve more than half of the 170 cities that the airport is connected to. Mr Patel said any connectivity gaps left by Jetstar Asia's exit can be filled only in the short to medium term by other carriers. This is due to delays in the delivery of new aircraft and the time needed for capacity changes. Ultimately, Jetstar Asia's withdrawal from Singapore will shrink the choices available to consumers, particularly those eyeing the non-stop links it served exclusively. But its limited market share means that the impact on Changi's standing as a hub will likely be minimal. Kenneth Cheng is assistant news editor at The Straits Times. He oversees transport coverage, spanning the land transport, aviation and maritime sectors. Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
Business Times
8 hours ago
- Business Times
Why China biotech is getting a DeepSeek moment, too
FROM artificial intelligence to military defence, China has offered a few DeepSeek moments this year, showing that the country is more than just the world's biggest factory, and that it also can compete with the United States on the technology front. Now biotech is having its own. In late May, Pfizer agreed to pay a record US$1.25 billion upfront to license an experimental cancer drug from Shenyang-based 3SBio, as well as making a US$100 million equity investment in the Hong Kong-listed biotech company. Two weeks later, Bristol-Myers Squibb said it would pay BioNTech US$1.5 billion guaranteed to license a similar cancer asset. It was a win for BioNTech, which bought Biotheus, the Chinese company that developed the drug, late last year for US$800 million. Increasingly, big pharmaceutical companies are seeing Chinese biotech as the disruptors. These two deals will allow Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squib to go after Merck & Co's Keytruda, the world's top-selling medicine. 3SBio's drug works in the same way as a therapy from China's Akeso, which outperformed Keytruda in one trial. US-based Summit Therapeutics licensed Akeso's assets for US$500 million upfront in late 2022. Excitement These billion-dollar deals got bankers and investors excited. The Hang Seng Biotech Index is up about 60 per cent this year. By comparison, the S&P biotech index is down 6.5 per cent. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up There are good reasons to believe this rapid pace of dealmaking and enthusiasm for China biotech will last, with US President Donald Trump's economic policies serving as a major catalyst. Trump's threats to slash US prescription drug costs by '59 per cent, PLUS', as well as Medicaid and Medicare cuts in his big, beautiful tax and spending bill, will inevitably dent Big Pharma's bottom line. To cut in-house R&D expenses, these multinationals might have to come to China, where early-stage human tests are much cheaper and easier to run, despite comparable safety protocols. So far, the biotech industry is relatively insulated from Trump's tariffs, providing a meaningful safe haven for global investors. Rare earths materials and Boeing plane deliveries might be used as negotiation tools, but Beijing is making an exception for public health. It continues to welcome American-made medical supplies, including Pfizer's lung cancer drug Lorbrena and Merck's Gardasil, a HPV vaccine that protects against cervical cancer. Being in Beijing's good books allows Big Pharma to seal licensing deals with local partners. In addition, global drug companies and venture capital funds might want to take equity stakes too, just like Pfizer did last month. With a dip in biotech funding, especially in China, startups are unable to advance drugs on their own, and therefore demand large upfront licensing payments. This gives Western companies leverage to negotiate good deals. What is innovation without human talent? China's 'engineer dividend' is likely to pay off big time in the next few years, propelled by a hostile White House that vows to 'aggressively revoke' visas of Chinese studying in 'critical fields'. Already, the number of Chinese students in the US has dropped 22 per cent from its pre-pandemic peak, with many pointing to anti-Asian sentiment during Covid as a major drawback. Going forward, more could be forgoing US university degrees and working for promising startups at home instead. Between 2000 and 2020, the number of engineers in China ballooned from 5.2 million to 17.7 million, according to the State Council. The discipline and medicine are among the most popular fields for graduate studies. Those under the age of 30 account for 44 per cent of the total engineering pool, versus 20 per cent in the US, according to data compiled by Kaiyuan Securities. As a result, compensation for researchers is only about one-eighth that in the US. In other words, Chinese engineers are young, cheap and abundant. Tailwinds So what we've got are a lot of tailwinds: A group of strategic buyers eager to cut expenses and outsource research, a relatively benign local authority, and competitive talents. China's biotech industry is starting to dazzle. BLOOMBERG
