IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Going global

Russia's 25 largest overseas investors, led by OAO Lukoil and OAO Gazprom, more than doubled their foreign holdings over 2005 and 2006 as soaring fuel and metals prices boosted profits at the country's biggest companies.

Russia accumulated $157 billion of foreign direct investment at the end of 2006, according to a study published yesterday by the Columbia Program on International Investment at Columbia University, New York, and the Skolkovo Moscow School of Management.

Breakfast boost

McDonald's Corp said on Monday sales at restaurants open at least 13 months rose 8.2 percent in November, helped by the strength of its breakfast business.

Shares of the world's largest fast-food company rose almost 2 percent to an all-time high on the data. Same-store sales, a key retail measure, rose 4.4 percent in the United States, lifted by sales of breakfast, premium roast coffee and chicken snack wraps, the company said in a statement.

Greater growth

India's industrial production growth probably accelerated in October as the onset of the festival season and rising incomes spurred consumer spending.

Production at factories, utilities and mines rose 10 percent from a year earlier, faster than September's 6.4 percent gain, according to the median forecast of 18 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The Central Statistical Organisation's report is due around noon today in New Delhi.

Loan sought

Argentine investor Enrique Eskenazi is seeking a $2 billion loan to buy a stake in YPF SA, the Buenos Aires-based oil company owned by Spain's Repsol YPF SA, two people with direct knowledge of the deal said.

Eskenazi hired Credit Suisse Group, Morgan Stanley and BNP Paribas SA to arrange the three-and-a-half-year debt, said the sources, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private.

Maximum capacity

Hyundai Motor Co, South Korea's largest automaker, plans to make full use of its US factory next year as it expects higher demand for the redesigned Sonata midsize sedan.

Hyundai Motor plans to produce 300,000 Sonata sedans and Santa Fe sport-utility vehicles at its plant in Montgomery, Alabama in 2008, company spokesman Jake Jang said yesterday in Seoul.

New Canadian chief

Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's biggest retailer, said Mario Pilozzi will retire on January 31 as chief executive officer of its Canadian division and named David Cheesewright to replace him.

Cheesewright, 45, serves as chief operating officer of Wal-Mart's Asda unit, the United Kingdom's second-largest supermarket chain. Pilozzi, 61, steps down after seven years as head of Wal-Mart Canada, the company said yesterday in a statement.

Chipmaker trims sails

Texas Instruments Inc, which makes the chips used in about half the world's cell phones, narrowed its fourth-quarter outlook on Monday, saying it expects sales and profits to be toward the higher end of its previously announced expectations.

Ron Slaymaker, the company's vice-president of investor relations, said sales of chips for cell phones and other wireless devices remained below usual seasonal trends.

GM in Russia talks

General Motors Corp is talking to OAO GAZ, Russia's second-largest automaker, about potential cooperation after GM's bid for a stake in that nation's biggest car company failed.

GM and GAZ are exploring a range of options, GM Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner told reporters.

Agencies-Bloomberg News

(China Daily 12/12/2007 page16)