IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Buyback boost

Swiss Re said yesterday it would increase its share buyback program after it signed a reinsurance contract with Berkshire Hathaway, which also bought 3 percent of its shares.

Under the contract, Berkshire, owned by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, will take a 20 percent share of all Swiss Re's property and casualty business for the next five years, leading to a reduction in Swiss Re's capital deployed.

Report denied

Japan's Fujitsu Ltd denied a newspaper report that it would join Toshiba Corp and NEC Electronics Corp in developing and producing 32-nanometre microchips.

"We have absolutely no plans to join," a Fujitsu spokesman said, denying a report in the Nikkei business daily yesterday. "We are still considering several different possibilities."

Seeking alternatives

Getty Images Inc, the world's top supplier of pictures and video to media and advertising companies, said on Tuesday its board was exploring strategic alternatives and had hired Goldman Sachs as a financial advisor.

The company's stock closed up $2.81, nearly 13 percent, at $24.75 on the New York Stock Exchange. Getty Image's statement came after a source familiar with the situation said that Getty had appointed Goldman to conduct an auction of the company.

Electric car deal

Tata Motors Ltd, India's leading vehicle maker, has signed a development contract with Chrysler LLC for electric vehicles, the Business Line paper said yesterday, citing unnamed industry sources.

The deal, with the US carmaker's Global Electric Motorcars unit, is for an electric version of Tata's mini truck Ace that would be sold in the United States, the paper said.

Sell-off plans

Philips Electronics plans to sell most of its stake in flat screen maker LG.Philips LCD Co Ltd as early as this year, the Nikkei business daily reported yesterday, quoting the president of Philips.

Philips said in October that it had reduced its stake in LG.Philips to 19.9 percent from 33 percent, and investors have been waiting to see what it would do with its remaining stake, which is worth about $3 billion at the current market price.

Richemont rise

Richemont, the world's second-largest luxury goods group, narrowly missed forecasts yesterday with an 8 percent rise in third-quarter sales, and said demand "slowed somewhat" in Japan and the United States in December.

Analysts had expected the maker of Cartier, Piaget and Montblanc accessories to post a 9 percent increase in sales in the three months to Dec 31, according to a Reuters poll.

New chief

Norwegian engineering and group Aker Kvaerner has appointed Simen Lieungh to become chief executive, succeeding Martinus Brandal who will be nominated board chairman, the company announced.

Aker Kvaerner ASA, a supplier of engineering and construction services to the oil and gas industry and to a number of other industrial sectors, is also proposing to change its name to Aker Solutions ASA.

Big loss

South Korean plasma and organic screen maker Samsung SDI yesterday reported a fourth-quarter net loss eight times higher than a year ago on falling panel prices, but forecast a return to profit in 2008.

Results at the firm, which sells both plasma display panel screens and traditional cathode-ray tubes for TVs, could benefit in 2008 from a worldwide shortage in flat panels.

Agencies

(China Daily 01/24/2008 page16)