IN BRIEF (Page 20)

Companies

Dumpling grouplooks to US

An eatery giant known for its steamed stuffed buns, and with an ambitious expansion plan to buy a United States coffee chain, is joining a growing number of Chinese enterprises in going global.

Goubuli Group, based in Tianjin, said it plans to buy a US cafe chain company in the first half of the year.

If completed, the deal will help the dumpling group, also known as Go Believe, to acquire hundreds of stores in more than 40 countries and regions in Europe, the United States and Southeast Asia, Geng Jing, deputy general manager of the company, said.

She declined to specify the targeted brand and did not say how the acquisition process is going.

Wanda sets sightson hotel expansion

Dalian Wanda Group Corp Ltd will open eight to 10 hotels in big overseas cities in the next three to five years, a top executive of Wanda Hotels and Resorts says. Iija Poepper, sales and marketing vice-president of Wanda Hotels and Resorts, refused to say which cities were being considered. "I can confirm two of the hotels later this year."

Banking

Regulator requires lending details

China's bank regulator will require the country's largest lenders to disclose their off-balance-sheet exposures and other indicators in a move to implement global rules designed to strengthen regulation of "too-big-to-fail" banks. The latest guidance from the China Banking Regulatory Commission requires Chinese banks that have been designated as systemically important as well as all other banks with on- and off-balance sheet assets worth at least 1.6 trillion yuan ($264 billion) to disclose 12 key indicators.

Playing field altered for foreign banks

Foreign banks' share of Chinese business will remain at the 2 percent level in 2014 even as they expand into new territory to meet the challenges brought by their Chinese counterparts, industry experts said.

"Foreign banks' market share should remain stable in 2014, hovering at around 2 percent," said Raymond Yung, PwC China financial services leader. "But they will put more emphasis on profitability."

Economy

Reforms, other factors to be a drag on GDP

Risks to China's economy could drag 2014 GDP to its lowest level since 1990 before stimuli from structural reforms start to have an effect, economists say.

Qu Hongbin, chief economist in China at the British bank HSBC, expressed his concerns about a further slowdown of the world's second-largest economy, as reform plans raised by the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist of China in November could be slow to show results.

He forecast that the GDP may increase by about 7.7 percent this year or even as little as 7.5 percent, which would be China's slowest annual growth since 1990.

Shipping

ZPMC weighs upGerman deal

Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co Ltd, the world's largest maker of cranes and large steel structures, and known as ZPMC, is negotiating to buy a German shipyard, part of its drive to diversify and expand its maritime engineering business.

ZPMC aims to buy JJ Sietas Schiffswerft, a shipyard in Hamburg with a history of more than 300 years, Huang Qingfeng, vice-president of ZPMC, said. He visited the shipyard and talked with local politicians and business executives in October.

The Chinese company made an offer for the bankrupt European shipyard because it wants to boost its research and development capability for vessel engineering, Huang said.

Retail

Online transactionscontinue to rise

With the strong growth of e-commerce in China, average per capita online transactions shopping, money transfers and bill payments exceeded 10,000 yuan ($1,640) last year, says Alipay, China's largest e-payments company.

Alipay is the e-payment arm of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

The coastal province of Guangdong led the list, with online spending accounting for about 16 percent of the national total. Next came Zhejiang province, Beijing, Shanghai and Jiangsu province, in that order.

Online spending in inland regions in western China took off last year, with growth rates outpacing those of their eastern counterparts.

L'Oreal's Garnier callsit quits in China

A week after Revlon Inc of the US announced its was quitting the Chinese market, the French cosmetics giant L'Oreal SA has announced it will halt the operation of its beauty product brand Garnier in China.

In an email to China Daily, L'Oreal said it had made the decision of discontinuing the sales of Garnier products in China so the group's consumer products division can grow at a "faster and more sustainable" pace.

The company will concentrate on its two leading brands, the beauty brand L'Oreal Paris and the makeup brand Maybelline New York.

Resources

Largest listed steelmaker raises prices

China's Baoshan Iron & Steel, the country's biggest listed steelmaker, will raise its main steel product prices for February bookings, the second increase this year, it said. The company will raise prices of hot-rolled coil, mainly for manufacturing, by 80 yuan ($13.22) a ton and cold-rolled coil for automaking by 120 yuan a ton. Baosteel's pricing is usually considered to be indicative of the direction of the domestic market.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily Africa Weekly 01/17/2014 page20)