IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Indian investment

Rakeen, a Middle East-based developer, and Chennai-based Trimex Group plan to invest $5 billion in India over the next five years developing real estate.

They plan to develop 50 million square feet of residential, commercial and office space in the country, Rakeen said in a press statement.

Earnings eroded

Australian company profits unexpectedly declined in the third quarter for the first time in more than two years as earnings at mining and manufacturing companies fell.

Gross operating profits dropped 2.1 percent from the second quarter, the Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney yesterday. That estimate compared with the median estimate of a 2 percent increase in a Bloomberg News survey of 25 economists.

Drug cooperation

Merck & Co Inc, the third-largest US drugmaker, will collaborate with Addex Pharmaceuticals Ltd to develop new treatments for Parkinson's disease in a deal valued at as much as $170.5 million.

Addex will receive an upfront payment of $3 million and payments that may amount to $167.5 million, the Geneva, Switzerland-based company said in an e-mailed statement.

Fiat profits

Fiat SpA will post a trading profit of 2.9 billion euros this year, Italian newspaper La Stampa reported, citing the carmaker's chief executive officer, Sergio Marchionne (above).

Fiat forecast trading profit, or earnings before interest, tax, restructuring costs and one-time items, of between 2.9 billion euros and 3 billion euros in October.

Lender's dividend

Intesa Sanpaolo SpA may pay 4.8 billion euros in dividends in 2008, matching this year's payout, Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore reported.

The lender probably will give investors ordinary dividends worth at least 2.8 billion euros and a special payout of 2 billion euros, the newspaper said. The total payment may even be higher, given the bank's "more-than-sound assets", Sole said.

Qatar order

Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co, South Korea's biggest overseas contractor, received a $920.2 million order from Qatar Fertilizer Co to build a factory, as rising crude prices spur a construction boom in the Middle East.

The factory will take 40 months to be completed, Seoul-based Hyundai Engineering said in a filing yesterday. The order was won together with a unit of Saipem SpA, the statement said, without giving the value of the contract secured by the Italian company.

Eye on India

SEB SA, the world's biggest maker of countertop kitchen appliances, plans to enter India and wants to establish a leading market share there, La Lettre de L'Expansion reported, without saying where it got the information.

The French company could make an acquisition in India or it may seek an alliance with Carrefour SA or the United Kingdom's Tesco Plc, according to the newspaper.

Diamond firm IPO

Namakwa Diamonds aims to raise as much as $200 million in a share sale on the London Stock Exchange this month to finance new mines in Congo and Namibia, the Financial Times reported.

The South African company is run by Tom Kruger and his son Nico Kruger, the newspaper said. The Kruger family owns 25 percent of the company and will remain the largest shareholders after the listing in London, the FT said.

Bloomberg News

(China Daily 12/04/2007 page16)