Huiyuan deal filed to govt

US soft drinks giant Coca-Cola has filed applications for an anti-monopoly review of a deal to buy out China Huiyuan Juice, Coca-Cola said yesterday.

The Ministry of Commerce will announce the results within 30 days.

Coca-Cola hopes to acquire Huiyuan for HK$18 billion, in what could be the largest foreign takeover in Asia. However, the company still needs to clear just the one regulatory hurdle - the recently enacted Anti-Monopoly Law.

With the law taking effect in August, all foreign acquisitions of Hong Kong-listed mainland firms must now undergo an "anti-monopoly review".

Coca-Cola has already said that if the bid is approved, it plans to continue using the Huiyuan brand.

Netcom leaves HSI

Fixed-line operator China Netcom will be removed from Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index from Oct 15 after a merger with wireless firm Unicom, the blue-chip gauge's compiler said yesterday.

Shareholders this month approved a merger of the two State-run firms, part of Beijing's plan to overhaul the world's largest telecommunications industry and create three full-service operators. The Netcom-Unicom merger was due to become effective Oct 15.

The Hang Seng Indexes Co Ltd said in a statement that Netcom's Oct 6 closing price will be used in re-calculating the index between Oct 7 and Oct 14.

Foxconn moves Acer plant

Taiwan's Foxconn plans to move its plant for the assembly of Acer PCs to Hungary from the Czech Republic, an Acer official in Hungary told business daily Vilaggazdasag.

Vilaggazdasag yesterday quoted Csaba Egri, who heads Acer's Hungarian operations, as saying that the assembly of Acer PCs to be sold in the European market would be moved to Szekesfehervar, a city 60 km southwest of Budapest.

Egri did not disclose any further details and local Acer officials were not immediately available for comment.

Hon Hai Precision Industry, a unit of Taiwan's Foxconn, recently bought plants from Sanmina-SCI Cor, including a plant in Szekesfehervar.

Copper miner issues bonds

Jiangxi Copper said it would issue up to 6.8 billion yuan of convertible bonds with warrants yesterday to help fund its overseas acquisitions and to ensure material supply.

China's top copper producer said its bonds would bear an annual coupon between 1 and 2 percent, to be decided by the issuer and lead underwriter, in line with the demand from subscriptions, it said in a statement published in the official Shanghai Securities News yesterday.

Large purchasers of the 1,000 yuan bonds would be given 259 warrants that would allow them to buy Jiangxi Copper's local-currency A-shares at 15.44 yuan per share two years later at a ratio of four warrants for one share, it said.

China Daily - Reuters

(HK Edition 09/23/2008 page2)