Asia Times Online is a quality Internet-only publication that reports and examines geopolitical, political, economic and business issues. Cheap Airline Tickets


	May 26, 2000	atimes.com

Front

Business in Asia Today

Chiyoda considers seeking debt relief
TOKYO - Chiyoda Corp (TSE:6366) announced Wednesday that it is projecting a 20 billion yen ($186 million) net loss in fiscal 2000 and is considering seeking debt relief from Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (TSE:8315). ''We are considering a broad range of restructuring measures to improve the health of our finances and management,'' Chiyoda President Kiyomitsu Nishio said.

Hazama books $238m net loss for FY99
TOKYO - Major construction firm Hazama Corp (TSE:1837) announced Wednesday that it has posted a net loss of 25.5 billion yen ($238 million) for fiscal 1999 after booking 46 billion yen in extraordinary charges. The firm booked 1.5 billion yen in net profit the year before. The one-time charges include 9.8 billion yen in latent losses incurred on real estate held for sale, whose market value fell more than 50 percent from book value at the time of purchase. Hazama also saw 22.5 billion yen in losses on loans extended to a golf course operator subsidiary and costs associated with guaranteeing its debt. It also booked 5.6 billion yen against its loan-loss reserves after its investments in its US real estate subsidiary went sour.

Korea's Oriental AD.com to import Indian IT talent
SEOUL - Oriental AD.com said Thursday that it would begin introducing information technology specialists from India through its franchise head, Aptech Computer Education of India. The company will bring in 100 personnel this year, 1,000 next year and 5,000 in 2002 to address a shortage in IT staff in Korea. It will work as an agent for 10 local venture companies to refer IT specialists from India. Oriental AD.com also plans to open 12 IT training schools nationwide by 2002.

Govt stake in Korea Telecom to fall to 40%
SEOUL - Korea Telecom will advance its privatization by attracting foreign investment and selling off state-owned shares. Company president Lee Kye-cheol said Wednesday that the government's share in Korea Telecom will drop from the current 59 percent to around 30 percent by the end of this year.

McDonald's sets up shop in Henan
ZHENGZHOU - US fast food giant McDonald's and Zhengzhou Friendship Commercial Group Corp have agreed to set up a Henan McDonald's Food Co Ltd joint venture in Zhengzhou, capital city of Henan Province in central China. McDonald's will open 10 outlets in Henan in the next three years and the first fast food outlet will open for business in July. Henan has a population of 93 million, or one-thirteenth of China's total.

Nissey Vietnam opens factory
HANOI - Nissey Vietnam, a wholly Japanese owned company, has opened another factory in the Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone. According to Yukiyory Machi, chairman of the parent company Nihon Seimitsu, the new factory will produce watch bands and fishing rod components in several months time, when the necessary equipment is brought in. ''Watch bands earn a large share of Nihon Seimitsu's profit and we also see a good future ahead for fishing rod components,'' he said. Vietnam was selected after several countries, including China, India and Russia had been ruled out.

FPT to distribute Samsung, Oracle products
HANOI - Vietnam's leading computing company, the Corporation for Financing and Promoting Technology (FPT), has been appointed the sole official distributor for Samsung PC monitors and US company Oracle's database management software. The products are made at the Malaysia-based Samsung plant. It has also defined six other Vietnamese IT companies as its agents.

Handyphone service propels Globe to the fore
MANILA - Digital leader Globe Telecom Tuesday announced that it has recently started operations of mobile banking services for its Globe Handyphone cellular phone service. With this introduction of mobile banking services, the digital cellular service operator effectively becomes the country's single biggest entity for mobile banking, having opened the service to its over 1.3 million cellular subscribers nationwide.

Proton, Hicom deal stalled, but still on the table
KUALA LUMPUR - Talks between national car maker Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Bhd (Proton) and Hicom Holdings Bhd (Hicom) on the proposed acquisition of Edaran Otomobil Nasional Bhd are still on. Though negotiations have stalled, the deal is still much on the table, said DRB-Hicom Bhd group chairman Mohd Saleh Sulong Wednesday. He said that no one party had walked away from the deal.

Singapore firm forms multi-brand JV with Gucci
SINGAPORE - Retailer F J Benjamin Holdings Ltd (SGX:FJBN) is to become Gucci Group NV's joint venture partner for retailing and distribution in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia of the whole product ranges of luxury fashion brands the latter owns - Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent Couture and Sergio Ross. The company told the Stock Exchange of Singapore that it has agreed to exchange its current retail sales agreement for a 35 percent share in a long term joint venture, which will include two additional global brands. Other brands acquired by Gucci may also be added to the joint venture. From July 1, 2000, the new joint venture will manage 10 Gucci boutiques, including five in Singapore, two in Malaysia and three in Australia.

Toyota Astra to make CBU imports core of business
JAKARTA - PT Toyota Astra Motors (TAM), the subsidiary of Indonesia's leading automaker PT Astra International (JSX:ASII), plans to make completely built-up (CBU) car imports one of its core lines of business, as the market for completely built-up cars has substantially expanded. ''Now Astra imports CBU cars to meet orders only, but in the future, some time in 2001, we will make it a regular business activity,'' said TAM technical director Adi Rizal Nizar Wednesday.

Foreign bank loans $50m to BNII
JAKARTA - Bank Internasional Indonesia (JSX:BNII) said it had secured revolving loans totalling $50 million from Standard Chartered Bank (SCB). An agreement to that effect was signed by BII president Hiroshi Tadano, BII director Halim Susanto, SCB senior banker Emmanuel Q Canivel and chief of SCB's corporate and institutional banking division TK Kumar.

Bayer Indonesia posts $2.5m net profit in Q1
JAKARTA - Pharmaceutical company, PT Bayer Indonesia (JSX:BYSP), has posted Rp20,4 billion ($2.5 million) in net profit in the first quarter of 2000 after a loss of Rp0.5 billion in the same period last year. BYSP's President Wolfgang Piroth said the improved performance was reflected in a 7.4 percent increase to Rp173 billion in gross sales in the first three months of this year. He attributed the increase in the company's sales to a 17 percent surge in domestic sales offsetting a sharp fall to Rp11.5 billion from Rp23.3 billion in the same period last year.

Australian telco shelves listing
SYDNEY - Sinking world sharemarkets have rattled the float plans of ComVergent Telecommunications Ltd, with the company Thursday shelving plans to list on the Australian Stock Exchange. The decision to delay the initial public offering (IPO) - which planned to raise around A$350 million (US$200 million) for the company - followed a roadshow in Europe to promote the listing.

Imperial One delays listing of Catcha.com
PERTH - Imperial One International Ltd Thursday said market volatility and declining market sentiment have forced the delay of the Catcha.com Ltd initial public offering. Imperial's wholly-owned subsidary, Imperial Technologies Pty Ltd, is the third largest shareholder and holds 12.53 percent of the Catcha.com pre-IPO capital.

Microland to raise $10m for ITspace.com
NEW DELHI - India's MicroLand Group plans to raise $10 million for its Internet company ITspace.com and is talking to various institutional investors including GE Caps and Icici Ventures for this. The group is also looking at making one of its subsidiaries public by March 2001, a senior company official said. ''We plan to go for the first round of funding for our technology portal ITspace.com by June this year to raise $7-10 million. We would approach the group's existing institutional investors for the placement,'' said Pradeep Kar, chairman of Microland Group said. Institutional investors in Microland's various group companies include Chase capital, GE capital, Icici Ventures, NewsCorp and IL&FS.

Indian broadcaster inks deal with US corp
NEW DELHI - Prasar Bharati, India's autonomous broadcasting body, Thursday signed an agreement with the USA-based World Space Corporation. The deal would help All India Radio usher in the digital era by launching a Digital Radio service to the Middle East and North-east Africa from August 1 this year. Under the agreement, World Space would provide one channel in its transponder in the East beam of its Afristar satellite which will help broadcast in digital mode Arabic, Hindi and general overseas service programs to West Asia and Northeast Africa.

(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 Airline Tickets to Chicago Midway Illinois

back to the top

©2000 Asia Times Online Co., Ltd.

Asia Times Online is designed and produced by Multimedia Asia Co., Ltd.