IN BRIEF (Page 16)
First for Toyota
Toyota Motor Corp, the world's second-largest automaker, promoted North America President Jim Press to the management board as the first non-Japanese member.
Press will become a senior managing director, the company said in a statement. The appointment will be effective after the company's June annual shareholders' meeting.
Hostile bid boosted
Paladin Resources Ltd, an Australian uranium producer, raised its hostile bid for Summit Resources Ltd by 20 percent to A$1.23 billion ($1 billion), matching the price Areva SA agreed to pay for a minority stake.
Summit shareholders will receive the equivalent of A$6.22 in Paladin stock, 7.2 percent higher than yesterday's close, the Perth-based company said yesterday in a statement.
Slowing growth
India's industrial production growth slowed for a third straight month in February as higher interest rates crimped demand for cars and homes.
Production at factories, utilities and mines rose 11 percent from a year earlier, less than January's revised 11.4 percent increase, the Central Statistical Organisation said in a statement in New Delhi.
Merger off
The German competition authorities yesterday vetoed the planned merger of Phonak and ReSound, the Swiss and Danish makers of hearing aids and audio instruments, saying the tie-up would lead to a dominant market position in Germany.
Germany is the second-biggest market for hearing aids behind the Unitede States and is currently dominated by manufacturers Siemens, Phonak and Oticon, who together hold a market share of more than 80 percent, the Federal Cartel Office said in a statement.
AFP-Bloomberg News
(China Daily 04/13/2007 page16)
