IN BRIEF (Page 16)
Tender in pipeline
Japanese optical glass maker Hoya Corp said yesterday that it would prepare to launch a tender offer for digital camera and medical equipment maker Pentax Corp from June onwards, offering 770 yen per share.
Hoya said it would continue talks with Pentax. It said it seeks to gain the understanding of Pentax shareholders by the end of May and would then aim for a majority stake in Pentax, with Pentax's approval.
Bank sell-off
US-based private equity fund Lone Star is preparing to sell at least half of its 67 percent stake in Tokyo Star Bank, with Britain's HSBC one of several possible buyers, a report said yesterday.
Lone Star is expected to pick a buyer for the shares by early May and complete the sale via a tender offer by the end of June subject to regulatory approval, the Nikkei business daily reported in its evening edition.
French purchase
French fixed-line telecommunications operator Neuf Cegetel said yesterday it was in exclusive talks to buy the French subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, Club Internet.
It did not specify a price, but the business daily Les Echos said it could be between 430 million and 460 million euros.
Anti-theft move
India's booming services and software industry yesterday announced that an independent watchdog has been setup to create a "global safe-deposit vault" to halt data theft such as credit card details.
Shyamal Ghosh, a former Indian bureaucrat, was named chairman of the Self Regulatory Organisation which he said will be independent of the industry's main lobby group, the National Association of Software and Service Companies or NASSCOM.
Agencies
(China Daily 04/24/2007 page16)
