Business
  

Business briefs

Updated: 2011-07-01 13:23

(China Daily European Weekly)

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Business briefs
Shuijingfang spirits on display at an exhibition in Shanghai. The London-based Diageo has got approval to take control of the Chinese white spirit maker. Jun Ying / FOR China Daily


Aviation

Airbus to raise rudder output in Harbin

 

Airbus signed an agreement on June 29 with its Chinese partners on progressively increasing the production of the A320 rudders at its joint venture in Harbin, Heilongjiang province.

The joint venture, Harbin Hafei Airbus Composite Manufacturing Center, will increase the production of A320 rudders to reach 21 shipsets a month by 2014, which represents half of the total production of A320 rudders in the world.

Currently it produces about three shipsets of A320 rudders a month.

Data

Industrial companies' profit growth slows

The profit growth of Chinese industrial companies has slowed after the government tightened credit to curb inflation and prevent asset bubbles.

Net income rose 27.9 percent in the first five months from a year earlier to 1.92 trillion yuan (207 billion euros), the National Bureau of Statistics said. That compares with a 29.7 percent gain for January-through-April.

This year, Chinese businesses face higher labor and commodity costs, weakness in export orders, and moderating economic growth after four interest-rate increases since September.

Finance

HSBC increases trade settlement in yuan

HSBC Holdings PLC, Europe's biggest bank, aims to take a bigger share in trade transactions settled in yuan, said Montgomery Ho, head of HSBC's commercial banking division in China.

Ho said the bank has been organizing workshops in China and Europe encouraging companies to have their trade settled in yuan.

HSBC handled 44 percent more yuan-denominated trade settlement in April than March as customers became more "receptive" to such arrangements, according to Ho.

Intesa China profits expected to rise 6%

The Italian commercial bank Intesa Sanpaolo SpA will see net profit growth of 6 percent in China this year, and the annual return on its tangible assets may exceed 15 percent, the chief executive officer said at a news conference on June 28.

"Our financial services in China will continually focus on trade financing in the near future, to help Chinese companies expand their business in Italy and provide services for Italian firms in China," Corrado Passera said.

Intesa Sanpaolo entered the Chinese market in 2007 when it bought a 19.9 percent stake in Bank of Qingdao.

Deals

Diageo wins approval to control Shuijingfang

Liquor giant Diageo PLC said Chinese regulators have approved its bid to take control of a local Sichuan white-spirit maker on June 27, some 16 months after the deal was first announced.

London-based Diageo, which makes Johnnie Walker whisky and Smirnoff vodka, will become the largest single shareholder in the Chinese baijiu brand Shuijingfang, upon completion of a complex transaction designed to give Diageo indirect majority ownership.

Diageo will spend some 140 million yuan (15 million euros) for a 4 percent holding in Sichuan Chengdu Quanxing Group Co Ltd, which will result in Diageo owning a 53 percent stake in the Chinese company, the largest shareholder of Shanghai-listed Shuijingfang.

It is also seeking approval from the regulator to launch a mandatory tender offer to acquire the remaining 47 percent of the shares. A minimum of 21.45 yuan a share will be paid for the outstanding shares.

Auto

Chrysler to build more vehicles in China

Chrysler Group LLC is aggressively exploring the possibility of building more vehicles in China where the company is on track to sell 40,000 cars and trucks this year.

The US automaker, which is managed by Italy's Fiat SpA, could build cars and trucks in China through a joint venture between Fiat and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd.

By taking advantage of the joint venture, Chrysler can expand more quickly in China. Last year the automaker sold 31,000 vehicles in the country, the world's largest auto market where 18 million vehicles were sold in total.

Funds

Sunwah eyeing two London hedge funds

Sunwah International of China says it is planning to buy two funds from the troubled British hedge fund firm RAB Capital, which recently decided to delist itself.

The Chinese company said on June 27 that it was also in talks to buy an 80 percent stake in PCE Investors, a British fund management business regulated by the Financial Services Authority, which would provide a platform for hedge fund investments.

If completed, the deals would represent the first such moves by a Chinese firm into London.

Sunwah, a financial services firm listed in Toronto but conducting most of its operations in Hong Kong, began as a merchant bank and broker-dealer. But it has been expanding into hedge funds and private equity.

Telecom

HTC invests in expansion in Europe

HTC is on a roll with its strong performance in smartphones and is pushing ahead with plans to expand in Europe and the Chinese mainland. Over the past year, it has been investing in marketing activities and new launches in both regions, and now it is opening new facilities and channels to boost its momentum.

The Taiwan vendor said it has opened a new European headquarters in the UK, expanding its existing base in Slough, west of London.

Florian Seiche, president of HTC EMEA, said: "HTC is committed to expanding our influence in EMEA over the next few years and looks forward to using this new state-of-the-art base to derive more insights into how we will communicate in the future in order to fuel mobile innovation now and in the future."

China Daily-Agencies

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