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April 08, 1999atimes.com
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Business in Asia Today

Korean online securities trading tops $13bn in Q1
SEOUL - Online securities transactions by South Korea's topseven brokerage houses totalled 16.32 trillion won ($13.32billion) in the first quarter, up a whopping 817 percent froma year earlier, securities sources said Wednesday. The tradevolume in cyberspace is estimated at 18 trillion won iftransactions by the seven - Daewoo, Hyundai, Samsung, Daeshin,LG, Dongwon and Ssangyong - and other minor players arecombined. The sources linked the surge in "e-trading" toexpanded online trading services and the competitive offeringof discounts for online brokerage commissions by brokeragefirms.

Foreign investment falls 38.5% in Indonesia Jan.-March
JAKARTA - Investment Minister Hamzah Haz has said that approved foreign investment (PMA) projects dropped 38.5% in number to 187 in the first three months of this year compared with the same period last year.The project value plunged even deeper to $560 million in the January-March period from $5.1 billion in the same period last year. Meanwhile,approved domestic projects totalled only 36 in the first threemonths of this year, down from 91 projects in the same periodin 1998, but their value rose 217% to Rp53.7 billion, Hazsaid.

Samsung General Chemical to shed non-core assets
SEOUL - South Korea's Samsung General Chemical is planningto sell part of its non-core assets, including productionfacilities in an industrial complex in Sosan, South ChungchongProvince, to secure foreign funds totaling between $300million and $400 million. The company said Wednesdayitwould complete the sale before its upcoming merger withHyundai Petrochemical. Based on the plan, Samsung signed acontract to turn over an industrial gas supply unit in theSosan complex for $35 million to BOC Gas Korea Co., a localaffiliate of the British Oxygen Co.

No slowdown foreseen in Australian economy
SYDNEY - Continuing strong business conditions andconfidence in the first quarter of 1999 were further evidencethat any slowing in the domestic economy was likely to bedelayed until late 1999 or early 2000, according to theNational Australia Bank's (ASX:NAB) quarterly business survey."In brief, the Australian economy continues to outperform justabout all of our major trading partners - with no apparentslowing in its underlying momentum as yet," NAB chiefeconomist Alan Oster said. Continuing resilience of thedomestic economy meant that near-term growth prospects hadbeen revised up again, to slightly above 4.0 percent, he said.

Australia's ERG, Motorola win Singapore transport contract
PERTH - Smart card specialist ERG Ltd. (ASX:ERG) and Motorola have won a multi-million contract for Singapore's public transport system.ERG said the smart card fare collection system will be one of the largest in the world, providing an integrated contactless fare collection system for Singapore's public transport authorities.

LibertyOne buys majority stake in Satellite Music Australia
SYDNEY - Internet media company LibertyOne Ltd. (ASX:LIB) has acquired a majority shareholding in Australia's largest digital audio music distributor, Satellite Music Australia (SMA), and indicated more acquisitions are on the way.Under the deal, LibertyOne said that, in return for a stake in the company, SMA's current shareholders would receive approximately 3.987 million shares in LibertyOne.

Korea's SKC to sell part of film unit to U.S. firm
SEOUL - South Korea's SKC Co. said Wednesday that it has agreed to turn over part of its specialty film unit to Illinois Tool Works (ITW) of the United States for $125 million.SKC will receive $60 million in cash from ITW in return for transfering its 24 billion won ($19.6 million) in assets in the specialty film unit, which produces stamping foil and thermal transfer film, as well as 5 billion won in liabilities and domestic and overseas sales rights to ITW.

Global auction of Hanjung shares set for Aug.
SEOUL - An international auction to sell 52.1 million shares of Korea Heavy Industries and Construction (Hanjung) will be announced towards the end of May and bidding is scheduled towards the end of August.The Commerce, Industry and Energy Ministry said Wednesday that Hanjung shares owned by the Korea Development Bank, Korea Electric Power Corp. (KSE: 15760) and Korea Exchange Bank (04940) will be sold off in a bid to privatize the heavy industry giant.

UK-based WorldTel seeks Internet partner in India
NEW DELHI - WorldTel, a London-based telecom firm headed by Sam Pitroda, is scouting for an equity partner for a Rs20 billion ($472.25 million) Internet project in India. A high-level company delegation, which includes Pitroda andprogram director N. Ravi, is visiting India on Wednesday.Pitroda said the WorldTel is in discussions with the leading industrial groups for a joint venture partner.

Hitachi, Fujitsu to jointly produce plasma display panels
TOKYO - Hitachi Ltd. (TSE:6501) and Fujitsu Ltd. (TSE:6702)would jointly produce plasma display panels (PDPs) by fiscal2002 priced at "10,000 yen per inch of screen," the presidentsof both firms said at a press conference Tuesday. The price isless than half the current 1 million yen for a 42-inch panel.The partners hoped to tap demand for PDPs among ordinaryhouseholds, company officials said. The venture, which wouldinitially make 42-inch PDPs, could invest a further 50 billionyen in the near future to build another production facility.

India further eases foreign investment rules
NEW DELHI - The Indian government has further liberalizedthe foreign investment regime by allowing companies to pump inmore foreign investment without its prior approval, if thepercentage of foreign shareholdings remains the same. This hadbeen done, keeping in view the desirability of infusion ofadditional funds as equity by the foreign company, leading toincreased investment inflows, a government statement said.However, the changes would not apply to cases where there hadbeen an increase in the percentage of foreign equity and wherethe original project cost was more than Rs6 billion, thestatement said.

China to invest $23bn in affordable housing
BEIJING - China plans to build 244 million square meters ofaffordable housing this year, with investment totalling 190.13billion yuan ($23 billion), according to the Ministry ofConstruction. The ministries involved and China's centralbank, the People's Bank of China, have urged commercial banksto arrange loans to support the project to ensure the smoothprogress of construction.

Malaysia's Affin Holdings to merge subsidiary with BSN Bank
KUALA LUMPUR - Affin Holdings Bhd plans to merge its wholly-owned subsidiary, Perwira Affin Bank Bhd, with the banking business of BSN Commercial Bank (Malaysia) Bhd.Affin Holdings and BSN Commercial Bank had on April 2 entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the matter, Perwira Affin Merchant Bank Bhd announced on behalf of Affin Holdings Tuesday.

Keidanren seeks banks' help in debt-to-equity swaps
TOKYO - Takashi Imai, chairman of the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren), has asked top officials of 11 leading banks Tuesday to help Keidanren member firms convert their excess debt into equity.While the officials, including those from Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (TSE:8315), Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank (TSE:8311) and Industrial Bank of Japan (TSE:8302), said they would not hesitate to extend assistance, they said the feasibility of debt/equity swaps should be examined on a case-by-case basis, suggesting a thorough restructuring of borrowers should precede the adoption of such a scheme.

Nippon Mitsubishi Oil to shut down refinery
TOKYO - Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Corp. (TSE:5001), formed through a merger between Nippon Oil Co. and Mitsubishi Oil Co. on April 1, will close a refinery in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture in fiscal 1999, in an effort to cut annual costs by several billions of yen, company officials said Wednesday.The refinery, previously run by Mitsubishi Oil, processed only 75,000 barrels of crude oil a day. But this will be the largest-scale shutdown of an oil refinery in Japan since oil imports were deregulated in April 1996.

Philippine auto sector warns of threat from used imports
MANILA - Uncontrolled inflows of used cars andsemi-knocked-down (SKD) units into the country were threateningthe long-term survival of the local automotive industry in thePhilippines, a senior automotive executive said here.Florencio Jurado, the senior vice president of Toyota MotorsPhilippines, said the inflows were expected to take a toll onthe country's thousands of workers who depend heavily upon theautomotive industry for their livelihood. If this continuedunabated, it was likely that many auto companies would ceaseoperations because of the unfair competition, he warned.

Allergan India to double market share through brand buys
NEW DELHI - Allergan India Ltd. (AIL), a maker of eye careproducts, plans to double its market share from the presentfive percent by buying two brands from Nicholas Piramal andby launching four more brands this year. "We will buy outGenticyn and Albucid, two eye drop brands, from NicholasPiramal to complement our existing eye care range," themanaging director of Allergan India, K.B.R. Menon said.Allergan India is a 51:49 joint venture between Allergan Inc.of the U.S. and Nicholas Piramal.

Fiat to launch low-priced model in India
NEW DELHI - Italian car manufacturer Fiat has announced it will launch its mid-segment car, the Siena, inmid-April, with a price tag ranging from Rs550,000($12,987) to Rs668,000, undercutting most of thecompetitors in the segment in India. The Siena, Fiat's secondoffering in India after the Uno, would start booking fromApril 15 on a first-come-first serve basis, the company saidin a statement here.

(Asia Pulse)


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