Technology

Huawei third largest smartphone vendor

The Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd emerged as the world's third largest smartphone vendor in the fourth quarter of last year, as traditional mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia Corp and HTC Corp tumbled. The Shenzhen-based Huawei climbed for the first time to the top five of the list, International Data Corp said.

Huawei shipped 10.8 million smartphones, a 4.9 percent market share, in the fourth quarter, behind Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Apple Inc, International Data Corp said.

Samsung had a dominant 29 percent share of the world's smartphone market during the period, while Apple had 21.8 percent with 47.8 million smartphones shipped, it said.

Energy

CNOOC, Nexen extend takeover closing date

The deadline for China's largest offshore oil producer to take over the Canadian oil and gas producer Nexen Inc has been extended by 30 days, it has been announced.

The Canadian government has given China National Offshore Oil Corporation Ltd approval to buy Nexen Inc of Calgary for $15.1 billion (11.1 billion euros). The closing date for the takeover has been postponed from Jan 31 until March 2, a statement said.

The deadline is being extended because the two companies are still waiting for approval from US regulators that is essential for completing the deal, as Nexen has operations in the Gulf of Mexico, the statement said. The takeover would be China's biggest overseas acquisition.

Glencore set to win approval for Xstrata bid

Glencore International Plc is expected to win approval from the Ministry of Commerce for its $36 billion (27 billion euros) takeover of the coal producer Xstrata Plc, meeting the final regulatory requirement for a deal that creates the world's fourth largest mining company.

Glencore, the commodities trader based in Baar, Switzerland, and Xstrata recently extended the deadline to mid-March to allow for completion of regulatory reviews in South Africa and China.

Investmeng

Chinese enterprises to lift investment in EU

Chinese enterprises are keen to make additional investments in the European Union, a report issued by the European Chamber of Commerce in China says.

In a survey of 74 Chinese enterprises that have invested in the EU, 97 percent indicated that they would invest more there. Germany was the most popular investment destination, followed by France, Italy, the Netherlands and Britain.

China's outbound direct investment grew to $8.25 billion (6.11 billion euros) in 2011 from $1.59 billion in 2005, the National Bureau of Statistics says.

Nokia plans to focus on China

Nokia Oyj, the struggling Finnish phone maker, plans to invest $250 million (185 million euros) in a fund that will invest in mobile communications companies worldwide, with an increased focus on China.

Nokia Growth Partners, the venture capital arm of Nokia, will continue to invest in companies in the US, Europe and Asia, Nokia said.

Michelin opens $1.5b factory in Shenyang

The French tire maker Michelin Group has spent nearly $1.5 billion (1.1 billion euros) on a factory in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, that has just opened. It is the company's largest single investment in China.

The new factory, the largest Michelin plant in the world, will be able to produce more than 12 million car, truck and bus tires a year. Car and light-truck tires produced there will include high-performance tires, which reduce rolling resistance and energy consumption while maintaining the same loading and speed performance.

The factory will also produce high-performance radial tires for trucks and buses, which are mainly tubeless tires, while production of tubular tires may change to meet market demand.

Chinese fund to invest in digital TV in Africa

The China Africa Development Fund and the Export-Import Bank of China have indicated that they plan to increase investment on digital TV in Africa.

Lu Qingcheng, vice-president of the fund, said that last year it had provided $100 million (74 million euros) to the development of digital TV on the continent.

More funds are in the pipeline to StarTimes, a private company in Beijing selling digital TV services in Africa.

Sun Ping, vice-governor of the Export-Import Bank of China, said it had lent 2 billion yuan ($322 million; 238 million euros) to StarTimes, and another 600 million yuan has been added to the project recently.

Equity firm buys chunk of land in port city

Blackstone Group LP, one of the world's largest private equity firms, has made another major investment in commercial real estate in China, this time a sizeable parcel of land in Nantong, Jiangsu province.

The investment, made through a real estate fund owned by Blackstone, was in cooperation with China Resources Land Ltd, a source close to the deal confirmed.

The investment, worth more than 3 billion yuan ($482 million; 357 million euros), involves 600,000 square meters of land in Nantong, an industrial port city at the mouth of the Yangtze River. It was finalized in October, and has now been given Ministry of Commerce approval, the source said.

Trade

China, Iceland said to be closer to trade deal

China and Iceland achieved "breakthroughs on all the major issues" during the sixth round of talks on their free-trade agreement held in Beijing from Jan 22 to 24, China's Ministry of Commerce said.

The two sides agreed that an agreement would be a milestone in their relationship, the ministry said.

Culture

SMG, Raine to build entertainment group

Shanghai Media Group has lined up a powerful financial partner to bolster its efforts to build an international entertainment empire.

China Media Capital, a private equity fund focusing on culture, which is partly owned by SMG, said on Jan 24 that it had formed a strategic partnership with The Raine Group, which is a global merchant bank focused exclusively on the digital, media & entertainment and sports & lifestyle sectors.

Finance

Rail business plans to sell bonds

China Railway Group Ltd plans to sell its debut-making US dollar-denominated bonds.

China Railway, the nation's biggest construction company by total assets, has hired six banks to arrange investor meetings from Jan 24, a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange said.

Citibank completes lending deal in yuan

Citibank (China) Co Ltd says it has completed its first cross-border lending transaction in yuan. The bank said the transaction was conducted on behalf of a European food company, and was structured to optimize the company's treasury activities by leveraging its China operation's surplus cash.

The lender declined to provide financial details. Lending to the company's group treasury center in Singapore is a critical step to expand and include the yuan in its treasury management currency basket, it said.

China issuers dominate in sales of dollar debt

Cosco Pacific Ltd, Future Land Development Holdings Ltd and the real estate company Mingfa Group International Co are marketing dollar-denominated debt as Chinese firms dominate regional issuance in the US currency.

Cosco Pacific, the Hong Kong-listed container terminal operator, is offering 10-year notes to yield about 285 basis points more than Treasuries, according to a source familiar with the matter. Future Land, the Shanghai-based developer, plans to sell five-year notes, as does Mingfa, a separate source said.

Foreign banks' best performance

Foreign-capitalized banks in Shanghai earned total profits of 12.5 billion yuan ($1.99 billion; 1.48 billion euros) last year, their strongest ever performance, according to figures from the Shanghai Banking Regulatory Bureau.

At the end of December, foreign-capitalized banks in Shanghai had total assets of 1.08 trillion yuan, total deposits of 572.9 billion yuan and a loan book worth 424.3 billion yuan. Their rate of non-performing loans was just 0.37 percent, lower than the national banking industry average.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 02/01/2013 page14)