IN BRIEF (Page 17)

Billionaire's demand

Icelandic billionaire Thor Bjorgolfsson, the main investor in Amer Sports Oyj, called on the sporting goods maker to convene an extraordinary general meeting so stockholders can replace the board.

Amer rose as much as 3.8 percent, the most in five weeks, in Helsinki trading. Novator, the private equity firm founded and led by the billionaire, wants the meeting to take place as soon as possible, the Helsinki-based company said in a statement released yesterday.

UBS falls on 'fire sale'

UBS AG fell to a five-year low in Swiss trading after JPMorgan Chase & Co analysts said it probably sold 25 billion francs ($24 billion) of mortgage-backed securities in a "fire sale" and may have more writedowns.

Europe's biggest bank by assets fell as much as 4.2 percent to 30.88 francs after analysts including Kian Abouhossein raised their markdown forecast to 18.5 billion francs ($17.9 billion) from 15 billion francs.

Property plans

Carrefour SA, the world's second-largest retailer, plans to sell 1.5 billion euros of property this year as billionaire Bernard Arnault (above) and Colony Capital LLC become its biggest shareholders.

Chief Executive Officer Jose Luis Duran said the supermarket owner is in talks with "several private investors" and real estate would become Paris-based Carrefour's "second business".

Homebuilder slumps

Taylor Wimpey Plc, the United Kingdom's biggest homebuilder formed by the July merger of Taylor Woodrow Plc and George Wimpey Plc, said full-year profit dropped 31 percent on slowing housing markets in the UK, United States and Spain.

Pre-tax profit before one-time items totaled 536 million pounds, compared with 777 million pounds, a year earlier, the London-based builder said.

Agencies

(China Daily 03/07/2008 page17)