IN BRIEF (Page 14)

Assets of China's lenders rise

Total assets of China's lenders exceeded 120 trillion yuan ($18.9 trillion, 15.1 trillion euros) by the end of May, according to data released by the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

The figure went up by 19.1 percent in May from the previous year, according to the commission.

The total debt among lenders increased by 18.8 percent to 112 trillion yuan by the end of May.

Assets of major State-owned banks rose to 54.8 trillion yuan, accounting for 45.6 percent of the total assets, the smallest proportion since the year began.

Property

Sotheby's Intl to enter China

Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC, a unit of Realogy, plans to start its business in China's luxury property market by the first half of next year.

The company will focus on first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, said CEO Michael Good of the New Jersey-based firm. Sotheby's International Realty has affiliates in 45 countries and regions, including Japan, Thailand and Vietnam.

"We've had a lot of global growth, but we've been very careful with China, because China is such an important emerging economy," Good said in an interview in Shanghai. "We think it's very, very important to be measured in our approach and make sure that we better understand the real estate players and the nature of the business in this country."

Finance

Direct local govt bonds halted

Legislators have halted plans to allow local governments to issue bonds directly as policymakers increase their scrutiny of regional debt risks and call for improved fiscal management at the local level.

The latest revision to the Budget Law removes a clause, introduced in a previous draft amendment in November, which would have allowed local authorities to sell bonds directly within an approved quota.

Instead, local governments are forbidden from issuing bonds unless otherwise regulated by the law and the State Council. The central government will continue to sell bonds on their behalf.

"Considering the rapidly growing scale of local debt, attention must be paid to the accompanying problems and potential risks," said Hong Hu, deputy director of National People's Congress' Law Committee.

E-Commerce

Groupon's China unit to merge with Ftuan

Groupon Inc's Gaopeng China joint venture with Tencent Holdings will merge with another Chinese daily deal website to form a new company, GaoPeng said.

GaoPeng said in a statement on June 26 that it will merge with lifestyle daily deals website, FTuan, which is backed by Tencent. Groupon will be a minority shareholder in the new company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The new company will be managed by senior executives from Ftuan and GaoPeng and will maintain separate brands.

Machinery

Shipbuilding industry grows slightly

The total industrial output value of China's shipbuilding industry reached 240.6 billion yuan in the first five months of this year, but the growth rate was only 0.7 percent year-on-year, the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry said.

China's shipbuilders finished 22.53 million dead weight tons of shipbuilding orders in the first five months this year, a decrease of 10.1 percent year-on-year. New ship orders amount to 9.54 million DWT, a fall of 47.3 percent from the previous year.

Trade

Sino-Chile trade to hit $35b this year

Trade between China and Chile is expected to hit $35 billion this year, boosted by China's increasing imports and a free-trade agreement between the two countries.

"The trade value between China and Chile will reach $35 billion, accounting for 25 percent of Chile's total trade amount," said Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, the former president of Chile, as quoted by Xinhua News Agency.

Last year, bilateral trade reached $29.03 billion, up 17 percent year-on-year and accounting for one-fifth of Chile's total foreign trade volume.

Mining

Hanlong gets approval for takeover

Hanlong Mining has received approval from Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board for its $1.3 billion (1.04 billion euros) takeover of Sundance Resources Ltd, the Australian company said.

Hanlong, a subsidiary of Chinese private company Hanlong Group, is interested in buying Sundance's Mbalam iron ore project, which is worth $4.7 billion and is located on the border of Congo and Cameroon in Africa. The move will help China further diversify its iron ore supply channels.

The Chinese company now has to gain approval from the National Development and Reform Commission by June 30 and credit approval from China Development Bank by Aug 31.

According to a statement in May, Hanlong expects to complete the transaction by November.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 06/29/2012 page14)