IN BRIEF (Page 14)

Automobile

BYD sells electric cars to London taxi firm

The Chinese automaker BYD Auto Co Ltd, which is backed by the US business magnate Warren Buffett, will supply 50 electric cars to the London taxi firm greentomatocars.

They will take to London's roads in the second quarter next year, the Oriental Morning Post reported.

The model being introduced to the British capital is BYD's e6, which has been available in the Chinese market since October last year, and is China's first all-electric model for public use.

Powered by recyclable and environmentally friendly batteries produced by BYD, the e6 can travel 300 kilometers on a single charge in urban conditions.

Ferrari recalls 16 vehicles in China

The luxury sports car manufacturer Ferrari will recall 16 vehicles in China due to defective tire pressure monitoring, China's quality watchdog said.

The recall by Ferrari Maserati Cars Sales and Services (Shanghai) Co will affect 16 Quattroporte, Granturismo, Granturismo Convertible and Granturismo MC vehicles produced between Nov 15 last year and March 1, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine said.

Ferrari said substandard tire pressure control units in the vehicles may malfunction because of a software error, and it offered to replace the defective parts free of charge.

GM unfreezes asset-backed market

A General Motors Co venture is selling China's first notes backed by auto loans since the global financial crisis in 2008 amid forecasts that debt will fund three times more car purchases within five years.

Loans from GMAC-SAIC Automotive Finance Co will back the 2 billion yuan ($320 million; 248 million euros) sale of securities by Cofco Trust Co, the issuer said. Globally, automobile debt accounts for $90 billion, or 45 percent, of bonds secured by consumer and business lending this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Borrowing funded about 10 percent of vehicle purchases in the world's largest auto market last year, a ratio that China Minzu Securities Co estimates will triple by 2017 as young people buy their first cars. Cofco Trust's offering comes after China restarted the market last month, following a four-year suspension that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Energy

BAL and Xunshan join forces

China's Xunshan Group, the world's largest grower of brown seaweed, will join Bio Architecture Lab, a US biotechnology company, and use its technology to convert seaweed into renewable chemicals, fuels and other products targeting both the Chinese and global market, BAL announced.

Under terms of the agreement, the two companies will develop an integrated seaweed bio-refinery using Xunshan's seaweed and BAL's conversion technology to produce a low-cost carbohydrate to produce renewable chemicals, fuels, animal feed and a variety of other high-value products that can be used by energy and pharmaceutical companies.

Investment

Marriott plans expansion in China

Marriott International Inc says it expects to open an average of one hotel a month in China for the next five years.

The hotelier said it expects to more than double the size of its operations in the Asia-Pacific region in the next few years.

With 132 hotels open in Asia and approved deals now covering an additional 143 properties, the company said it expects to grow to at least 265 hotels by 2016, with more than 80,000 rooms in 16 countries.

UPS expands healthcare network

United Parcel Service Inc, the US-based global package delivery company, has announced the opening of three new healthcare distribution facilities in the Asia-Pacific region, two of which will be in China, in Hangzhou and Shanghai. The third will be in Sydney, Australia.

The move marks a significant expansion of the company's global healthcare distribution network in the region, industry analysts said.

The new facilities bring the total number of UPS healthcare distribution facilities worldwide to 36, the company said.

3M's China sales 'to exceed those in US'

The multinational conglomerate 3M Co says it will continue its involvement in China's photovoltaic solar industry and will invest about $120 million in research and development in the country over the next five years.

Kenneth Yu, president of 3M China region and chief executive officer of 3M China, said that in five to 10 years he expects the company's annual sales in China to exceed those in the US, the company's home country.

The company started building a manufacturing site for PV solar materials and renewable energy products in Hefei, Anhui province, in September last year.

With a total investment of 1 billion yuan ($160 million, 124 million euros), which is the industrial group's largest single investment in China, the project is due to be completed by the end of this year.

Economy

Yuan exchange rate stability predicted

The US dollar exchange rate against the yuan will move largely in the 6.2 to 6.4 range in the next 12 months, a research note from the investment bank UBS AG said.

"We believe that fundamentally the renminbi is no longer much undervalued," said Wang Tao, an economist with UBS.

China's current account surplus, the broadest measure of the country's international trade, dropped below 3 percent of its GDP last year from the 2007 peak of 10 percent, and is expected to stay below 3 percent in the coming years.

China's cross-border M&As climb

Cross-border mergers and acquisitions have climbed steadily in China since 2007, with the announced transaction value rising from $13.58 billion to $93.09 billion this year, according to a report by China Venture, a research and consulting institute.

Chinese enterprises have completed 134 mergers and acquisitions overseas this year, with the transaction value at $23.42 billion, the report says.

Energy and mining businesses have registered the largest number of transactions, with 36 transactions valued at a total of $14.7 billion, it says.

Employers of German firms to feel pinch

German companies in China expect an average wage rise of 8.1 percent next year, against the 10.2-percent expected growth last year. That is despite forecasts of annual turnover remaining high, said the German Chamber of Commerce in China.

German employers said that one-fifth of blue-collar workers and 13.2 percent of white collar workers will change their jobs next year, the chamber said in a report titled Annual Salary Survey 2012.

China passes US as top FDI destination

China surpassed the US for the first time since 2003 as the world's largest recipient of global foreign direct investment in the first half of this year, showing that global investors are still confident in the world's second-largest economy despite its economic slowdown.

FDI inflows to China amounted to $59 billion (45.69 billion euros) in the first half of this year, despite a falling 3 percent year-on-year from $61 billion in the first half of last year.

Meanwhile, FDI flowing to the US reached $57.4 billion, a decline of 39.2 percent from a year earlier, said the Global Investment Trends Monitor issued by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 11/02/2012 page14)