Biz scene

MARKET

Bond auction

China Development Bank (CDB) auctioned 20 billion yuan of seven-year bonds in the interbank market yesterday at a yield of 4.83 percent.

The auction yield was below Tuesday's indicative secondary market yield of 4.9023 percent bid for seven-year financial bonds issued by policy banks.

CDB also auctioned 20 billion yuan of 10-year bonds at a yield of 4.95 percent.

Both the seven- and 10-year bonds have a greenshoe option to increase the issues by as much as 10 billion yuan each.

Mobile gains

China Mobile, the world's biggest wireless carrier by users, added a record 7.04 million subscribers last month after winning customers over from fixed-line operators including China Telecom Corp.

The wireless carrier had a total of 376.4 million subscribers at the end of January, the company said on its website yesterday.

China Mobile and smaller rival China Unicom boosted user numbers by scrapping charges for receiving calls and expanding in smaller towns and villages, where fewer people have telecommunications services.

Transport disruptions

China's largest copper smelter Jiangxi Copper said yesterday the company's smelting facilities were running at about 85 percent of normal levels due to transport disruptions.

The firm had resumed full mining and metal processing capacity after power supplies returned to normal levels, it said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Railway disruptions in Jiangxi were hampering transportation of sulfuric acid from Jiangxi Copper, officials in the smelter said.

BIZ MOVES

GM appointed

Huang Keqiang has been appointed the first general manager of GE Enterprise Solutions, China Region.

GE Enterprise Solutions is a new business focused on helping GE's global customers increase their productivity through superior information management and automation solutions.

Huang has worked in GE for eight years. Before this, he was general manager of GE Transmission and Detection Department, China Region.

New COO

Nora Li has been named chief operating officer of Shanghai-based Digital Media Group (DMG), which runs flat screen advertising networks in China's subway systems.

Li was a vice-president at Skyflying Media in 2007. Li also worked as a consultant for CBS Beijing public transportation advertisement operation from 2006 to April 2007 and for nine years at Hong Kong-based Media Partners International Holdings.

BIZ UNUSUAL

Tibetan mastiffs

Ten rare Tibetan mastiffs, each worth more than 1 million yuan, were exhibited at the Chengdu temple fair recently. Among the 10, one was priced at 4.6 million yuan while some were marked priceless and not for sale.

Tibetan mastiffs are a rare, very large ancient breed of dog originating in Tibet. There are currently only 300 pure-bred Tibetan mastiffs around the world and they are listed as an endangered species in China.

Handsome profit

Zhang Zhiquan was a laid-off worker in Hebei province, but now his handmade noodles bring him a net profit of 10,000 yuan per month.

Zhang's handmade noodles are 100 percent natural without any additives, he says. They are torn by hand and not sliced by knife, and customers thus consider them tastier than ordinary noodles. So Zhang's restaurant has become quite a hit in the area. The hand-torn noodle is sold at 3 to 4 yuan per bowl.

Super tofu

Bean curd, or tofu, is usually white in appearance, but Gu Honggen, a former peddler in Nanjing, makes colored tofu and has opened 700 chain tofu shops on the mainland and overseas.

Gu adds vegetable juice to tofu during the production process to lend it color and extra nutrients. Gu also puts extracts of sesame, red date and Chinese wolfberry into tofu to make it healthier.

LOCAL

Shandong MNCs

Around 130 multinational companies from World Fortune 500 have invested in more than 340 projects in Shandong province, according to a recent release from the Shandong economic and trade bureau.

Japan, US and South Korea are the main countries where MNCs come from in Shandong. Among these 130 companies, 42 are Japan-based, while 37 are from the US and seven from South Korea.

Wenzhou reverses

People from Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, are famous for their businesses savvy. But facing fierce competition in the market today, some private Wenzhou companies have taken a beating in the market.

According to a recent survey by Wenzhou industrial and commercial bureau, about 5.8 percent of newly established companies have closed down in two years.

Water treatment

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has set aside 90.2 million yuan for water pollution treatment in Huaihe River and Chaohu Lake in Anhui province.

The water treatment includes 11 existing projects and three newly started projects.

Tianjin roads

As one of the 2008 Olympic co-host cities, Tianjin will regulate 630 km of eight expressways at a cost of 340 million yuan to improve the road condition for the Games. Besides maintenance of these expressways, the Tianjin Highway Administration will also add signposts in English.

(China Daily 02/21/2008 page15)