IN BRIEF

Bank

Profits show fastest growth in four years

Lenders' net income in China rose 39 percent last year to 1.25 trillion yuan ($178.4 billion, 150 billion euros), the fastest growth in at least four years, the country's banking regulator said.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission said the increase was driven by a rise in credit-based interest-generating assets, improved operating efficiency and good controls on credit risks.

Interest income accounted for 66.2 percent of the total income of these institutions, which include policy banks, commercial banks, foreign lenders and rural credit cooperatives. Investment earnings provided 18.5 percent, while revenue from fees and commissions contributed 14 percent.

IPO

China Auto Rental scraps US IPO

China Auto Rental Holdings Inc, which calls itself the country's biggest car-rental provider, postponed what would have been the second US initial public offering by a Chinese company this year after struggling to attract investors.

The IPO was delayed because of "the current capital market conditions" according to an e-mailed statement from Christensen Investor Relations Inc, China Auto's public relations firm. China Auto had considered reducing the offering price after only about half the order book for the IPO was covered, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

China Auto was seeking to raise as much as $137.5 million by offering 11 million American depository receipts for $10.50 to $12.50 each, according to regulatory filings.

Deals

Yanjing said to be eyeing Kingway

Beijing Yanjing Brewery Co, China's fourth-largest domestic beer maker, is nearing an agreement to buy brewery assets from Kingway Brewery Holdings Ltd for as much as 4.5 billion yuan, sources say.

Yanjing is a frontrunner after beating an offer from Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the talks are confidential. China Resources Snow Brewery Co dropped out of bidding last month, they said.

An agreement may exclude plants in Shenzhen because Kingway wants to keep those properties, two sources said. The deal may value the remaining assets at 4 billion yuan to 4.5 billion yuan, they said.

Gaopeng in possible merger deal with rival

Gaopeng.com, a joint venture between Groupon Inc, a group-buying website, and Tencent Holdings Ltd, China's largest Internet company by sales, is in talks about merging with a rival, an industry source said.

Management at Gaopeng is considering integrating the company with Ftuan.com, a group-buying website in China, a source said.

The possible deal comes at a time when the country's group-buying industry, which offers a means of obtaining discounted prices on products that a specified number of customers have agreed to buy, is undergoing a reshuffle as thousands of companies try to compete in it.

Auto

Volkswagen signs Xinjiang deal

The auto giant Volkswagen has sealed a deal to build a new factory in China, where it plans to invest 14 billion euros in five years, as the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, attended the signing ceremony at the corporation's headquarters in Wolfsburg, northern Germany.

The ceremony, the last event on Wen's agenda during his 24-hour stay in China's largest European trade partner, was largely symbolic. News of the plan had crossed continents for months.

Finance

Chinese firms line up with heavyweights

China has 136 firms listed in The Forbes Global 2000 this year, 15 more than last year.

The Forbes Global 2000 by Forbes magazine, an annual list started nine years ago of the top 2000 public companies worldwide, ranks firms according to their composite scores based on sales, profits, assets and market value.

The 136 Chinese companies, led by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which ranks fifth on the list, are worth $2.8 trillion in aggregate market value.

Debt market opens to World Bank

China's central bank agreed to allow two World Bank institutions to buy debt in the country's domestic market as the world's second-biggest economy opens to further investment from abroad, according to a statement by the People's Bank of China.

The International Development Association and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development will be able to buy debt in the country's interbank bond market, the Chinese central bank said in a notice on its website on April 23. It signed agreements with the World Bank bodies in Washington, it said.

Energy

Sinopec, Orka sign geothermal deal

Oil refiner China Petrochemical Corp, or Sinopec Group, announced it has signed a framework agreement with the Icelandic geothermal developer Orka Energy Ltd to expand cooperation in developing geothermal resources.

Sinopec said the two will seek to grow their joint venture, Shaanxi Green Energy Geothermal Development Co Ltd, aiming to expand geothermal energy heating to at least 100 million square meters of housing in China by 2020.

The two are also bidding to build their joint venture into a world-class technology provider that integrates research, development and applications, Sinopec said.

China Daily-Agencies