 Biz scene
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-23 07:51 MARKET Minsheng stake plan
China Minsheng Banking Corp said it would buy a 9.9 percent stake or 6.164 million shares of US commercial bank UCBH Holdings for $29,899 million cash. The deal accounts for 15 to 23 percent of Minsheng's investment plan a year ago and 0.4 percent of its total assets. Debt agreement Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group (XCMG) reached a reconciliation agreement with China Orient Asset Management Corporation (COAMC) on restructuring the company's 320 million yuan debt, which laid a solid foundation for XCMG's assets reorganization and IPO in the future. According to the agreement, the Jiangsu-based XCMG will repay 200 million yuan to COAMC and will be exempted from refunding the remaining 120 million yuan. Coal firm to be listed Shanxi Coal Import and Export Group, one of China's largest coal trading firms, planned to list some of its assets, worth 4.3 billion yuan, through China Petroleum Jilin Chemical Engineering & Construction Co Ltd, China Petroleum Jilin said on Monday. The parent of China Petroleum Jilin, CNPC Jilin Chemical, planned to transfer all its shares in the listed company to Shanxi Coal, in return for seven coal trading firms in the Shanxi Coal group, a company statement at the Shanghai Stock Exchange said. The deal requires approvals from the central government and Shanxi province authorities, the statement said. BIZ MOVE Autodesk VP Software designer Autodesk has appointed Aldous Wong as its new vice president and president of greater China region. He will be in charge of the company's business operations in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Wong has nearly 20 years of management experience in the IT industry. Prior to this, he was vice president of HP China and vice president of Oracle. Gong quits Sohu Gong Yu, chief operational officer of Sohu, a major Chinese portal website, has put in his papers and will leave the company soon, Sina Tech reported. Gong decided to leave the company after the Olympic Games to seek career development opportunities in other sectors, the report said. GRAPEVINE Huawei hungry Huawei Technologies, China's leading telecommunications equipment provider, has made a $2 billion tender offer to buy out Nortel Networks Corporation's Metro Ethernet Networks business, Sina Technology reported. Other possible bidders are Ericsson, Cisco, Nokia and Siemens. Nortel Networks Corporation reported $3.4 billion losses in the third quarter of 2008 and plans to lay off 1,300 employees. CHINALCO losses China Aluminum Corporation (CHINALCO) registered 2.05 billion yuan pre-tax losses in October and November. If the trend continues in December, it may offset the company's 3.55 billion yuan profits in the first three quarters and turn into a whole-year loss, the Oriental Morning Post reported on Monday. CHINALCO is the world's second largest aluminum producer and the third largest primary aluminum producer, owning more than half of the nation's aluminum mine. BIZ UNUSUAL Miniature in a bottle
Imagine putting a mini-plant into a glass bottle that is shorter than the length of a finger without water and fertilizers and seeing it survive for at least three months. Now the miniature has been made into a cell phone accessory and is selling well in the market. Tu Liang, a 23-year-old graduate who majored in gardening, is the inventor of the product and he has made a 400,000 yuan profit by wholesaling his products to local distributors across the country. Free knitting lesson A Nanjing-based knitting and crochet studio is doing a roaring business with Christmas round the corner. Customers buying caddice from the shop also receive free knitting lessons. The shop owner Pang said she could earn 50 to 100 yuan by tutoring her customers. The do-it-yourself products in Pang's studio are especially appealing to young ladies who want to knit a self-made sweater or a scarf for their partners as Christmas gifts. LOCAL Underground city
Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province, plans to make use of its underground space to create a 20 million sq m "underground city" in the next 10 years, according to the city's Academy of Urban Planning. The underground area, including new roads, railways, recreation facilities, business services and parking lots, would largely improve the city's environment and ease the traffic load on the ground. Yunnan expansion Southwest China's Yunnan province is spending 987 million yuan to expand its airport in Xishuangbanna, which would bridge the nation with southeast and south Asia countries. The project will be completed by 2010. After the expansion, the airport can transfer 3.5 billion passengers and 10,900 tons of goods per year. Beijing subways Beijing will open four new subway lines by 2012, doubling the city's urban railway system to 400 kilometers, said Ding Shukun, deputy general manager, Beijing Rail Construction and Management Co. Ltd. By 2010, the subway will total 200 km and add Southern Beijing's Daxing district and Yizhuang district to the traffic network. Financial support Guangdong's development zone plans to spend 30 billion yuan in the next three years to help the region's enterprises tide over the financial difficulties due to the global economic woes, said Xue Xiaofeng, director of the region's management committee. The new government financial support includes 25 billion yuan for investment in infrastructure projects, 2.3 billion yuan for supporting independent innovation, 1 billion for developing high-ended industry, and others for bringing in overseas technological talents and improving the social welfare system. New Anhui airport Anhui province has started to construct a new airport, which takes an area of more than 1,000 hectares and was designed to meet the demand of handling 1.1 million people and 150,000 tons of freight by 2020. (China Daily 12/23/2008 page15) |
