IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Jaguar announcement

US automaker Ford Motor Co could announce as early as late next week the sale of its luxury Jaguar and Land Rover brands to Indian carmaker Tata Motors, said a source familiar with the matter.

The deal, which is now set to go ahead after Tata met a Ford UK labor union last week, could be announced on March 5 or March 6, although the timing could yet slip, the source said.

Dissident investors

A dissident shareholders group of the New York Times Co raised its stake to 19.03 percent, according to a US regulatory filing, nearing the equity value its controlling family holds.

The group, comprised of hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners and investment firm Firebrand Partners, has said it plans to solicit proxies to nominate its own slate of four directors. Four of the 13 Times board members are elected by public shareholders.

Getty takeover

Getty Images Inc said it had agreed to a takeover bid of $2.1 billion from Hellman & Friedman, putting the struggling photo and video supplier in the hands of a private equity firm.

The deal, which comes about five weeks after Getty said it would look at strategic alternatives, is worth $34 a share for stockholders. That is a premium of 55 percent over Getty's closing price on Jan 18, when it announced that it had hired Goldman Sachs as an adviser and could be up for sale.

Merger worries

Delta Air Lines Inc and Northwest Airlines Corp shares fell more than 5 percent on Monday on concerns their merger talks may fail.

"People are getting a little nervous about a potential merger," said Ray Neidl, an analyst with Calyon Securities. "The longer this thing drags out the less likely it's going to happen this year."

Suez earnings

French utility Suez yesterday reported 2007 core earnings ahead of forecasts and reaffirmed its timetable for its merger with Gaz de France.

Suez said its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 12.4 percent to 7.9 billion euros, ahead of a Reuters Estimates forecast for EBITDA of 7.5 billion euros. The private energy, water and waste utility raised its dividend by 13.3 percent to 1.36 euros a share.

Chips with everything

Texas Instruments Inc unveiled new application chips yesterday that can be used in everything from music players to medical equipment, with an aim of expanding its business beyond the cell phone chip market.

TI, which faces competition from Qualcomm Inc in the wireless market, said it would address broader markets with by expanding its OMAP product line, which is mostly used to support features like gaming and video in cell phones.

Indian ambitions

Japan's Honda Motor Co aims to raise sales in India by a third to 90,000 cars in the year beginning in April, and raise output to 160,000 by 2010 as it focuses on the fast-growing market, senior officials said.

Honda, which makes premium sedans Honda City, Civic and Accord in India, on Monday opened a new facility at its existing factory near Delhi that would double the capacity to 100,000 units a year.

GE's expectations

General Electric Co expects about two-thirds of 2008 revenue growth at its infrastructure unit to come from outside the United States, a top executive said.

That will offset the effects of a slowing economy on GE Infrastructure, John Rice, a GE vice-chairman who is chief executive of GE's largest unit, told the Reuters Manufacturing Summit in Chicago in a telephone interview.

Agencies

(China Daily 02/27/2008 page16)