IN BRIEF (Page 20)

Special tariff

The government will start levying a 100 percent special tariff on exports of all phosphate fertilizer products from today, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement. The current export tariff ranges from 10 to 20 percent. The special tariff will be levied until the end of this year.

China has increased export tariffs on fertilizer products and related raw materials from April 20 to ensure domestic supply and curb rising inflation.

Steel merger

Sichuan-based steelmaker Panzhihua Iron & Steel Group plans to merge all its assets into its listed unit Panzhihua Steel in a group listing deal worth 7.19 billion yuan, the company said yesterday in an exchange filing.

Panzhihua Steel will sell 749 million shares to its parent at 9.59 yuan apiece to acquire the assets.

Panzhihua's two other listed units, Chongqing Titanium and Sichuan Changcheng Special Steel, will also be merged into Panzhihua Steel through share swaps, and will then be delisted.

Capacity raised

China Power New Energy Development Co Ltd has raised its renewable energy capacity by 50 percent as the country pushes forth in cleaning up its air and water and cut down its reliance on imported resources.

The company plans to put into operation 1,500 mW of renewable energy capacity by 2010, including wind, hydropower and biomass, CEO Liu Genyu said. It also has plans for another 3,000 mW.

Bid for Huawei

Telecom giant AT&T and private equity fund Blackstone will bid for the handset unit of Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies, South China Morning Post said yesterday.

The Hong Kong-based newspaper cited sources as saying more than 50 percent of the handset unit would be sold for at least $2 billion.

Projector market slows

CCID Consulting, China's leading research, consulting and IT outsourcing service provider, said the sales revenue of China's projector market reached 1.4 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2008.

CCID Consulting's data show projector sales reached 106,000 sets in the first quarter of 2008, up 13 percent from a year ago.

It compared with a 33.5 percent growth last year.

Hong Kong IPO

Central China Real Estate Ltd, partly owned by Singapore's CapitaLand Ltd, may raise as much as $244 million in a Hong Kong initial public offering, according to Bloomberg.

The company, based in and focusing on China's most populous province of Henan, plans to sell 500 million new shares, or a 25 percent stake, at HK$2.75 to HK$3.80 apiece, said sources who did not want to be named.

Online service

China Merchants Bank (CMB) yesterday launched a new online banking service system for its corporate clients. The so-called "U-Bank" online service, which CMB spent three years to create, combines functions such as clearing, money raising, cash management, investment and other functions in its online banking service, and is one of the most advanced and sophisticated online service platform for corporate clients.

Research award

China Research Day & Research Fronts Award 2008, a move to promote state-of-the-art applications in the business world, will be held in Beijing on May 28. The event is being jointly sponsored by Thomson Scientific, National Science Library under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Science Observer magazine.

China Daily - Agencies

(China Daily 05/20/2008 page20)