IN BRIEF (Page 13)

Financing hits 9.8 trillion yuan

China's aggregate financing hit 9.8 trillion yuan ($1.5 trillion) in the first nine months of 2011, with local- and foreign-currency loans accounting for about 63 percent of the total, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said on Thursday.

The PBOC started this year to use a broader measure of financing, including traditional loans, direct financing and off-balance-sheet lending, to better gauge monetary conditions.

Huarong Asset profit up 148%

China Huarong Asset Management Co, one of the country's four largest asset management companies, reported a 148 percent year-on-year profit increase to 3.19 billion yuan ($500.3 million) in the first three quarters of this year, the company said in an e-mail statement on Thursday.

Profit rose 146 percent year-on-year to 2.02 billion yuan last year, while in 2009, profit totaled 821 million yuan, a rise of 104 percent.

Alibaba to spin off Juhuasuan

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, the Chinese e-commerce giant, announced on Thursday it will spin off its group-buying platform, called Juhuasuan, from Taobao.com, a consumer-to-consumer marketplace, as a separate company.

Alibaba said it aims to better cash in on the country's group-buying market with the move. The industry is undergoing a large-scale contraction, and more than 1,000 group-buying companies had closed as of September amid fierce competition.

Sunac sales to reach $3.3b

Sunac China Holdings Ltd, the developer part-owned by Bain Capital LLC, said sales might exceed 20 billion yuan ($3.3 billion) next year as it sells more luxury homes to wealthy Chinese buyers.

Tianjin-based Sunac's cash will rise to 6 billion yuan and the company expects to reach this year's 18.3 billion yuan sales target in November, Chairman Sun Hongbin said.

French buyer for Congo-China

France Telecom SA is close to announcing the purchase of Congo-China Telecom, the Democratic Republic of Congo's fourth-largest telecom operator, people with knowledge of the situation said.

France Telecom will buy 51 percent of Congo-China from China's ZTE Corp, these people said. They declined to be identified because the talks are private.

The deal will expand an African mobile presence that already includes France Telecom operations in countries such as Kenya and Cameron.

LG won't drop China LCD plant

LG Display Co is not considering withdrawing its initial plan to build a liquid-crystal display (LCD) plant in China.

The world's second-largest maker of LCDs is still reviewing when it will build the factory, LG said in a statement on Thursday. Edaily earlier reported the company might scrap the plan for the China plant, citing Chief Financial Officer James Jeong.

China Daily - Agencies

(China Daily 10/21/2011 page13)