IN BRIEF (Page 14)

Technology

New iPad will finally arrive

The new iPad, the third generation of Apple Inc's tablet line, will arrive in the Chinese mainland on July 20, the company has announced.

It will be available through Apple's online store, select Apple authorized resellers and by reservation from Apple retail stores on the mainland, the company said.

Reservation requests will be accepted daily beginning July 19 for pick up the following day, the company said.

The new iPad with Wi-Fi will be available in black or white at a suggested retail price equivalent to $499 (407 euros) for the 16GB model.

Property

Land auction price breaks record

A plot of land has been auctioned in Beijing for 2.63 billion yuan ($413 million, 337 million euros), setting a record.

Beijing Hehuahengrui Real Estate Co Ltd won the auction for the Wanliu residential plot in the city's Haidian district, said the Beijing Land Reserve Center, a government body in charge of public land management. The plot covers 38,869 square meters.

The company said it will build residential buildings for people who have previously lived in the area. The plot is the last one available for residential property development in the Wanliu area.

Aviation

Chinese firm to buy US aircraft maker

Superior Aviation Beijing Co Ltd, a Beijing aerospace manufacturer, and Hawker Beechcraft Inc, the US manufacturer of business aircraft, have reached agreement for the former to buy the latter for $1.79 billion, the US company says.

The Chinese helicopter engine maker, 60 percent owned by a closely held private entity, plans to expand its product lines in the general aviation industry through the transaction, Qian Chunyuan, assistant to the chairman of Superior, said. The rest of the company is owned by a firm controlled by the Beijing municipal government.

Banking

Bank of China opens branch in Sweden

Bank of China Ltd, one of China's four largest commercial banks, has opened a branch in Stockholm, the first Chinese banking outlet in the Nordic region.

The Stockholm branch aims to provide international financial service based on the bank's advantage in global integration, said Guo Xin, the branch head.

With trade between China and Sweden growing rapidly in recent years, the bank will strive to set up a more convenient financial platform for bilateral trade and communication, Guo said.

Commerce

Foreign firms shrink to 439,300

Foreign-funded enterprises have become larger in terms of registered capital in China this year but their number is shrinking, according to data issued by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.

China had 439,300 overseas-funded enterprises at the end of May, 7,200 fewer than at the end of last year, but their registered capital had expanded to 11.6 trillion yuan, up 700 billion yuan from the end of the year, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce said.

It attributed the declining number of foreign businesses in China to the global financial crisis.

Auto

Jaguar Land Rover eyes booming China sales

China will soon overtake North America to become the second-largest market after Britain for the luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover, the company says.

The Chief Executive Officer, Ralf Speth, said the company will increase investment in China to expand its sales network in the country and develop cars that best meet Chinese consumers' demands.

Speth said an assembly line introduced in a tie-up between JLR and Chery Auto of China has passed the government's environmental assessment and is on track toward completion. The models produced by the joint venture will remain "luxurious and high-end", he said.

Machinery

Train maker looks for EU opportunities

China Southern Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry Group Co Ltd, the country's largest train maker, says it is in contact with a British railway signaling company and several others about possible acquisitions as the European debt crisis causes financing difficulties for its European counterparts.

"The crisis has created good possibilities for mergers and acquisitions in that current prices are attractive," said the chairman of CSR, Zhao Xiaogang.

However, the time to make a move has yet to come as the crisis has not bottomed out, Zhao said.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 07/13/2012 page14)