Asia Times Onlinebanner
February 18, 1999atimes.com
Search buttonLetters buttonEditorials buttonMedia/IT buttonAsian Crisis buttonGlobal Economy buttonBusiness Briefs buttonOceania buttonCentral Asia/Russia buttonIndia/Pakistan buttonKoreas buttonJapan buttonSoutheast Asia buttonChina buttonFront button







Front Page

Business in Asia Today

Unilever signsPhilippines ice-cream deal
MANILA - RFM Corporation's ice cream subsidiary, SelectaDairy Products Inc., has inked a joint venture agreement withUnilever Plc of the United Kingdom. Under the agreement,Unilever will take up a 50 percent stake in thenew icecream company, Selecta Wall's, valued at 2.5 billion to 3billion pesos ($64-$77 million). The new company willextend the existing Selecta product lines to include Unileverice cream brands.

Sumitomo Metal slims down
TOKYO - Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. (TSE:5713) will close two of its five cement production plants and reduce sales operations for custom-made 2x4 and steel-frame houses, the company announced.A Yokohama parent plant will be closed by September, followed by the closing of a subsidiary plant in Ibaraki Prefecture. Branch housing sales in Tokyo and Osaka will be reduced by March 2000 to cover only the Tokyo area.

Australian salt producer to invest in Indonesia
JAKARTA - Australian salt producer Cheetam Salt Ltd. plansto build a U.S.$6 million industrial salt factory in Indonesia.The new factory in Cilegon, in West Java, will have aproduction capacity of 50,000 tons per year. Cheetam alsoplans to set up a joint venture with state-run salt company PTGaram to manage and develop salt farms owned by PT Garam.Cheetam will hold a 51 percent stake in the joint venture,which is expected to produce around 400,000 tons of salt peryear.

China's foreign reserves rise to $145bn
BEIJING - China's foreign reserves continued to increase in1998 to a total of almost $145 billion, a year-on-year riseof $5.069 billion. The People's Daily, the officialmouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, said the foreignexchange rate remained stable in 1998. China, under pressureto devalue its currency in response to a deterioriation in itstrade competitiveness following the Asian economic crisis,also reiterated that the exchange rate would remain stable in1999.

Westpac to buy back up to 50m shares
SYDNEY - Australian banking major Westpac Banking Corp. saidit will buy back up to 50 million, or about 2.5 percent, ofits fully paid ordinary shares on the stockmarket. Westpacsaid it would buy back the shares for six months from March 3,or until 50 million shares have been acquired. Chief FinancialOfficer Pat Handley said: "These share buybacks enable us toreduce capital which is surplus to the bank's immediate needs,to the benefit of shareholders."

India plans venture capital fund to boost software industry
NEW DELHI - India's Department of Electronics will set up a National Venture Capital Fund with an initial corpus of Rs1 billion to boost the software industry, a senior government official said.The proposed fund is awaiting the approval of the expenditure finance committee of the Ministry of Finance. With its creation, entrepreneurs in the information technology sector will have easy availability of finance.

Australian consumer confidence rises to 5-year high
SYDNEY - Australian consumer confidence has soared to itshighest level in five years, according to a private sectorindicator. The Westpac Banking Corp/Melbourne Instituteconsumer sentiment index rose by 3.1 percent in February to116.6 from 113.1 in January, in seasonally adjusted terms.This rise follows the sharp 8.3 percent rise in January, andthe combined two-month jump in confidence is the largest sinceOctober/November 1993.

NTT restructuring set for July 1
TOKYO - Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (TSE:9432)will carry out its sweeping restructuring plan on July 1,according to a Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications report. The existing company will be transformed into aholding company, under which NTT will split into along-distance and international carrier - NTT Communications -and two regional phone companies, covering eastern and westernJapan. NTT Communications will boast revenues estimated at1.35 trillion yen ($11.7 billion), a figure expected toexceed that of DDI Corp. (TSE:9433), Japan's largest newcommon carrier.

BOJ to allow near-zero level for short-term rates
TOKYO - Bank of Japan governor Masaru Hayami saysthe central bank will allow short-term interest rates to sink further, to a near-zero level, to implement the easy monetary policy adopted at its Feb. 12 board meeting."The BOJ will allow the unsecured overnight call rate to fall even as low as zero," he said, suggesting the central bank will guide the key short-term rate to near zero if investment trusts and other fund suppliers keep offering cash on the money market.

Keycorp develops world's smallest EFTPOS terminal
SYDNEY - Australia's leading electronic commerce andsmartcard technology company Keycorp Ltd. (ASX:KYC) says it hasdeveloped the world's smallest mobile electronic fundstransfer at point of sale (EFTPOS) terminal. The hand-held K78Advanced Mobile Payment terminal combines an EFTPOS unit, anErisson brand SH888 digital mobile phone and a printer.Keycorp said the unit was suited to merchants who requiredmore than just cash transactions and needed to take the pointof sale to their customers.

India's ICICI AMC launches consumer fund
NEW DELHI - Prudential ICICI Asset Management Company (AMC)has launched a specialized fund in India to be invested onlyin shares of companies manufacturing or marketing fast movingconsumer goods. The fund would have a special focus onpersonal and processed foods segments, an AMC fund managersaid. The fund is likely to invest in companies like HindustanLever, Procter & Gamble, Britannia Industries, Nestle,Smithkline Beecham Consumer Healthcare etc.

Japan firm wins excavation machine order from China
TOKYO - Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. (TSE:7013)has won an order for a shield excavating machine from Beijing,where such equipment will be employed for the first time tobuild a sewage system. Other bidders included Mitsubishi HeavyIndustries Ltd. (TSE:7011) and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd.(TSE:7012). Though the final price for the machine and relateddevices was not announced, it is speculated to be hundreds ofmillions of yen.

(Asia Pulse)


Front | China | Southeast Asia | Japan | Koreas | India/Pakistan | Central Asia/Russia | Oceania

Business Briefs | Global Economy | Asian Crisis | Media/IT | Editorials | Letters | Search/Archive

Cheap Car Rentals in Cozumel Mexico Cheap Car Rentals in Dallas Fort Worth Texas

back to the top

©1999 Asia Times Online Co., Ltd.