IN BRIEF (Page 13)

Sinochem plan gets approval

China Sinochem Corp's plan to build a 240,000 barrel-a-day refinery on China's southeast coast has won approval from the country's environmental regulator .

The refinery, to be located in Quanzhou city in East China's Fujian province, will cost 29.38 billion yuan ($4.56 billion) to build, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said on its website. The plant will process crude oil from Kuwait, the ministry said.

UBS sets up new venture

UBS Global Asset Management announced on Thursday the establishment of UBS Global Asset Management (China) Ltd, a wholly owned asset management company based in Beijing.

With registered capital of 100 million yuan, the company will engage in domestic non-securities equity investment management and advisory services.

Chinese sales boost Bayer

The Bayer Group continued its successful performance in the second quarter of 2011. The company's CEO Marijn Dekkers said the company made significant progress with products from its research and development pipeline.

Sales grew by 0.8 percent to 9.25 billion euros ($13.21 billion). Growth in sales in the emerging markets, especially China, offset weak performances in North America and Western Europe.

Alibaba unveils smartphone

Alibaba Group launched its first self-developed mobile operating system and smartphone on Thursday in a bid to capture a slice of China's rapidly growing mobile Internet market.

The K-Touch Cloud Smartphone, will go on sale at the end of July and will use Alibaba's Aliyun operating system, the company said in a statement. Handset manufacturer Tianyu will produce the K-Touch.

More deals for Cheung Kong

Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd, the roads and utilities company controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing, said it plans to boost acquisitions after posting a 96 percent increase in first-half profit.

Net income rose to HK$3.98 billion ($511 million) from HK$2.03 billion a year earlier, helped by gains from its UK business, according to a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday by the company known also as CKI. That compares with a median estimate of HK$3.45 billion in a Bloomberg survey of three analysts.

Toyota to add engine capacity

Toyota Motor Corp will spend 20 billion to 30 billion yen ($260 to $390 million) to boost engine output capacity in China by 30 percent to 1.3 million units a year in 2013, Japan's Nikkan Kogyo industrial daily reported on Thursday.

The capacity will be added at existing engine plants in China, operated in joint ventures with local partners FAW Group and Guangzhou Automobile Group, the paper said.

China Daily - Agencies

(China Daily 07/29/2011 page13)