Business briefs

Telecom

Telefnica seat for China Unicom

China Unicom, the country's second-largest telecoms operator, will win a seat on the board of Telefnica, the major Spanish group, in the latest sign of China's interest to invest in European and emerging market business.

In a regulatory filing in Madrid on Jan 23, the two groups announced a deepening of their existing strategic cooperation agreement through a further mutual purchase of each other's shares for $500 million (365 million euros).

The share purchase will take Telefnica's stake in China Unicom to 9.7 percent and China's Unicom's holding in the Spanish group to 1.37 percent.

Huawei Technologies seeks IP assurances

Huawei Technologies Co has sued Motorola Solutions Inc and Nokia Siemens Networks to block any disclosure of confidential information about its telecommunications network products in a proposed acquisition.

Huawei said in its complaint that Motorola Solutions had not offered assurances that it will prevent such disclosure to Nokia Siemens Networks, which said last year it will buy Motorola's wireless network business. Huawei's lawsuit filed in a federal court in Chicago, seeks to have a judge modify the deal to protect its intellectual property.

The lawsuit alleges misappropriation of trade secrets, copyright infringement and breach of contract.

Smartphone rivals nip HTC's heels

Taiwan's HTC, the maker of the first Android phone, has doubled in size and emerged as a key winner in the smartphone race. It sold 25 million phones in 2010 and saw revenues rise 90 percent from a year ago to NT$275 billion (6.9 billion euros) while pre-tax profit rose 76 percent to NT$ 44.5 billion.

Rivals such as Nokia and LG were forced into high-profile management shuffles as they scrambled to catch up.

HTC expects first-quarter revenue to reach NT$94 billion on sales of 8.5 million phones, up 46 percent and 157 percent, respectively, year-on-year.

Stocks

Hongqiao plans public float in Hong Kong

China Hongqiao, one of the country's largest private aluminum makers, plans to go public in Hong Kong next month in a bid to raise as much as $2.2 billion (1.6 billion euros).

The listing plan is a sign of confidence in a sector buffeted last year by overcapacity fears and China's energy restrictions.

The company will offer 1.74 billion shares on the Hong Kong exchange with an option to expand the 15 percent in the event of high investor interest.

Hongqiao intends to use the funds to increase production from the current 1 million tons of aluminum a year to nearly 2 million tons by the end of 2012.

Futures

Draft norms issued for QFII index futures

The China Securities Regulatory Commission issued a draft regulation on Jan 25 for foreign investors under the qualified foreign institutional investors (QFII) program to trade stock index futures in a move to further open the country's financial market.

Like their domestic institutional counterparts, QFIIs are allowed to trade stock index futures only for hedging, not speculative purposes, according to the draft.

The regulator also limited the trading volume, requiring that the daily value of futures contracts a QFII holds and the daily transaction volume may not exceed the quota approved by the country's foreign exchange regulator.

Energy

Green light soon for 10 more nuclear projects

China is expected to raise its 2020 target for the nuclear power industry to 86 gigawatts (gW), or 5 percent of its power generation, representing at least 70 billion yuan (7.8 billion euros) of investment annually.

The nation will approve another 10 nuclear power projects during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015).

In line with the country's move to accelerate the development of the industry, China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC), the country's largest nuclear power company, plans to invest 800 billion yuan in nuclear projects by 2020.

CNNC said the total investment in nuclear power plants is expected to reach 500 billion yuan by 2015, resulting in 40 gW of nuclear energy available nationwide.

Sinopec net profits soar on oil price hike

China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec Group), Asia's largest oil refiner by capacity, is expected to report a more than 100 billion yuan (11 billion euros) net profit in 2010, as surging oil prices pushed up its performance in the upstream sector.

The oil conglomerate's 2010 net profit may have grown by about 60 percent year-on-year, Moneyweek reported on Jan 24.

Li Ka-shing readies E.ON UK network bid

Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing is readying a reported 3.5 billion pounds (4.05 billion euros) bid for E.ON's UK power networks, after a preferred Canadian and Abu Dhabi consortium walked away.

Li is one of more than two bidders still in the race and E.ON is keen to complete the transaction in the first quarter, Reuters reported on Jan 24.

Li's investment unit Cheung Kong Infrastructure first made a 3.5 billion pound approach to the German utility late last year, hoping to enlarge a power portfolio that includes EDF's UK network, the Sunday Times reported.

Patent

Patent filings cross 1 million mark in 2010

Last year, 1.22 million patent applications were filed, according to the latest statistics released by the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO).

The number of applications for inventions, utility models and industrial designs rose 25 percent last year from the 980,000 filed in 2009.

SIPO granted 815,000 patents last year, an increase of 40 percent over 2009. More than 90 percent came from within China.

Invention patents, which have the most stringent requirements and are seen as a major index to evaluate innovation, rose 27.9 percent to 293,000 filings.

Trade

Anti-dumping duties on caprolactam

Chinese importers of European Union and United States caprolactam will have to put down a security deposit from Jan 25, the Ministry of Commerce said.

A preliminary ruling said caprolactam from the EU and the US had been dumped in China, the ministry said in a statement on its website. The dumping caused substantial damage to China's domestic industry.

A final ruling will be made at a later date after further investigations.

Caprolactam is the precursor to Nylon 6 and is a widely used synthetic polymer.

Aviation

BOC Aviation to increase aircraft assets

BOC Aviation, the aircraft-financing unit of Bank of China, said on Jan 24 that it is looking to order more aircraft from manufacturers such as Airbus and Boeing this year, as the airline industry rebounds strongly from the global economic downturn.

BOC Aviation CEO Robert Martin said the company, which owns and manages around $6.6 billion (4.8 billion euros) worth of aircraft assets, was aiming to increase the assets to between $7.5 and $8 billion by the end of 2011.

BOC Aviation owns and manages 167 airplanes, mostly from the single-aisle Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 families, and has another 64 on order. More than 50 percent of its business comes from Asia-Pacific clients.

Engineering

Foreign markets boost CNEEC profits

China National Engineering Co Ltd (CNEEC) says it secured most of its 2010 revenue from overseas power station projects, representing the Chinese contractor's capacity in the international Engineering, Procurement and Construction market.

The contractor had more than 3 billion yuan (333 million euros) in revenue in 2010, up 7.46 percent year-on-year, and its profit soared by almost 50 percent to more than 130 million yuan. About 80 percent to 90 percent of its projects came from foreign markets, according to the contractor.

China Daily-Agencies