Christies international plc

LONDON -- In October 2020, Miami-based art collector Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile spent almost $67,000 on a 10-second video artwork that he could have watched for free online. Last week, he sold it for $6.6 million. The video by digital artist Beeple, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann, was authenticated by blockchain, which serves as a digital signature to certify who owns it and that it is the original work. It’s a new type of digital asset - known as a non-fungible token (NFT) - that has exploded in popularity during the pandemic as enthusiasts and investors scramble to spend enormous sums of money on items that only exist online. Blockchain technology allows the items to be publicly authenticated as one-of-a-kind, unlike traditional online objects which can be endlessly reproduced. “You can go in the Louvre and take a picture of the Mona Lisa and you can have it there, but it doesn’t have any value because it doesn’t have the provenance or the history of the work,” said Rodriguez-Fraile, who said he first bought Beeple’s piece because of his knowledge of the U.S.-based artist’s work. “The reality here is that this is very, very valuable because of who is behind it.” Examples of NFTs range from digital artworks and sports cards to pieces of land in virtual environments or exclusive use of a cryptocurrency wallet name, akin to the scramble for domain names in the early days of the internet.“Non-fungible” refers to items that cannot be exchanged on a like-for-like basis, as each one is unique - in contrast to “fungible” assets like dollars, stocks or bars of gold. The computer-generated video sold by Rodriguez-Fraile shows what appears to be a giant Donald Trump collapsed on the ground, his body covered in slogans, in an otherwise idyllic setting. OpenSea, a marketplace for NFTs, said it has seen monthly sales volume grow to $86.3 million so far in February, as of Friday, from $8 million in January, citing blockchain data. Monthly sales were at $1.5 …

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With its enticing business and investment conditions, Vietnam’s packaging sector has seen an array of M&A deals in recent years, Photo: Duc Thanh Thailand’s Siam Cement Group PLC (SCG) last month made a big splash in the market by entering into a 70-per-cent share purchase agreement with Duy Tan Plastics JSC. The former’s subsidiary SCG Packaging (SCGP) is to work with its Vietnamese partners under a 10-billion-baht ($332 million) investment to expand its packaging solution business in Vietnam, where demand for such products is growing. The investment is part of a 20-billion-baht ($664 million) budget for business expansion and merger and acquisition (M&A) plans. SCGP chief executive Wichan Jitpukdee told The Bangkok Post that the company has been expanding its operations in Vietnam and generated a revenue growth of more than 10 per cent annually. Last year, SCGP announced the closing of its consolidation with Sovi Packaging JSC in the southern province of Dong Nai’s Bien Hoa city, a company specialising in corrugated boxes and offset laminated packaging. In 2015, SCGP expanded its flexible packaging business by acquiring an 80 per cent stake in Tin Thanh Packing JSC, one of the top five manufacturers of such wares in Vietnam. SCGP also invested in its packaging paper production base at Vina Kraft Paper Co., Ltd. to meet the rapid demand in the country. The enterprise has holdings in a clutch of other domestic producers including Alcamax Packaging, Packamex Packaging, AP Packaging, and New Asia Industries. Besides this, global investors like SCGP are also shifting their focus to the market, thus driving their sustainability agenda forward. The company has been implementing its environmental social governance strategy in the past few years, thereby focusing on corporate social responsibility towards the environment and society. SCGP is also a pioneer in green manufacturing, with various innovations ranging from paper to flexible packaging. With …

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A commonly used asthma treatment appears to reduce the need for hospitalizations as well as recovery time for COVID-19 patients if given within seven days of symptoms appearing, researchers at the University of Oxford said on Tuesday. The findings were made following a mid-stage study of the steroid budesonide, sold as Pulmicort by AstraZeneca Plc and also used for treating smoker’s lung. The 28-day study of 146 patients suggested that inhaled budesonide reduced the risk of urgent care or hospitalization by 90% when compared with usual care, Oxford University said. Researchers said the trial was inspired by the fact that patients with chronic respiratory disease, who are often prescribed inhaled steroids, were significantly under-represented among hospitalized COVID-19 patients during early days of the pandemic. Initial data from the study also found volunteers treated with budesonide had a quicker resolution of fever and fewer persistent symptoms. “I am heartened that a relatively safe, widely available and well studied medicine ... could have an impact on the pressures we are experiencing during the pandemic,” said Mona Bafadhel, lead investigator of the trial. Pulmicort was once a blockbuster drug for coronavirus vaccine-maker AstraZeneca, which now offers a newer medicine, Symbicort, as an alternative asthma treatment. Results from the Oxford University study are yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal. …

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