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	February 16, 2000	atimes.com

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Business in Asia Today

Ssangyong Motor to sell cars via Hansol CSN website
SEOUL - South Korean companies Ssangyong Motor and Hansol CSN (www.csclub.com) agreed Tuesday on a strategic alliance to market Ssangyong cars on the latter's retail website, marking the country's first partnership between a cyber shopping mall and an auto maker. All Ssangyong models will be available from www.autosclub.com from next month. Hansol CSN, operator of Korea's largest online shopping site, will serve as a dealer in every respect from overseeing sales to service.

Invitation letter sent to Daewoo Motor bidders
SEOUL - The bidding secretariat of Daewoo Motor sent invitation letters to potential takeover bidders Tuesday, according to the restructuring coordination body for the ailing Daewoo Group. The letter was sent to six foreign and domestic car makers, including General Motor, Ford, Hyundai Motor, DaimlerChrysler and Fiat, but Samsung Group and the consortium led by the Korea Federation of Small Business were excluded, sources said.

Korea's Kia awaits due diligence from Ibra before investing
JAKARTA - Investment plans by Kia-Hyundai Motors to acquire PT Timor Putra Nasional (TPN) have been put on hold pending the move by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (Ibra). "They are waiting for TPN's due diligence results by Ibra. After completion of the report, Kia said it would stick to its commitment to acquire TPN," Agus Tjahjana, director general for metal industries, electronics and multifarious industries, said. He said he hoped the settlement of TPN's offshore debts with Ibra could be settled by March so that Kia-Hyundai may invest fresh capital in Indonesia.

Korea's Terasource posts 50-fold growth in net profit
SEOUL - Korean firm Terasource Venture Capital (www.terasource.co.kr) announced Tuesday it recorded annual sales of 18.3 billion won ($16.3 million) and a net profit of 11.6 billion won last year. The firm showed high profitability from investment in venture business, as sales shot up 625 percent and profit an incredible 5,208 percent from the previous year. "We were able to earn high profit as the companies in which we invested such as Sewon Telecom, Biosys, Sein Electronics, Serome Technology and Wide Telecom were listed on the Kosdaq last year," the company said.

Korea announces strategy to expand e-commerce
SEOUL - The Commerce, Industry and Energy Ministry will invest 7.27 billion won ($65 million) by 2002 to introduce business-to-business e-commerce to electronics, automobiles, steel, shipbuilding, heavy industry, textiles, electric power and distribution. Tax deductions on investments in e-commerce will be introduced and e-commerce departments will be set up in more universities, according to the government's comprehensive strategies to activate e-commerce announced Tuesday.

Fuji Photo, Nokia to tie up in image transmission technology
TOKYO - Japan's Fuji Photo Film Co (TSE: 4901) announced a new strategic link with Finland-based Nokia Corp to develop technology to exchange still images between digital cameras and cellular phones. The technology will utilize Bluetooth, a new transmission standard launched in May 1998 that uses short-range radio links to exchange information between mobile phones, personal computers, handheld devices and other peripherals. Fuji Photo will commercialize a digital camera that incorporates the new technology by the summer of 2001.

Toshiba targets Internet revenue of $918.27m in 2003
TOKYO - Toshiba Corp (TSE: 6502) announced on Monday a business strategy aimed at increasing annual turnover from Internet-related services from its current 100 billion yen ($918.27 million) to 500 billion yen in 2003. Toshiba plans to form an in-house company in April to provide a variety of content to consumers via cellular phones and other mobile communications devices. It will distribute news, stock reports and geographical data, as well as entertainment like music and movies.

Sanyo, Maytag form appliance alliance
OSAKA - Sanyo Electric Co (TSE: 6764) on Monday announced a comprehensive home appliances link with US company Maytag Corp. Under the deal, the two firms plan to jointly develop cooking and cleaning devices as well as washing machines, to be spearheaded by an energy-efficient washing machine scheduled to debut in US and Asian markets by October 2001. Through the alliance, Sanyo and Maytag aim to lower costs while speeding up their development of high-value-added products in the face of a maturing home appliance market and decreasing global product prices. The companies will also look into buying parts together and engaging in mutual product supply.

Toyota, DigiCube team up in web offerings
TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp (TSE: 7203) said Monday that it has formed an online alliance with game software distributor DigiCube Co (TSE: 7589). Toyota plans to add DigiCube games and music CDs to its Gazoo site (http://www.gazoo.com/), where the automaker sells accessories and provides information about cars. Starting this summer, the agreement will also provide for information terminals in Toyota dealerships to be used for DigiCube's digital music distribution business.

Malaysian central bank approves 10 new banking groups
KUALA LUMPUR - Bank Negara Malaysia has approved the formation of 10 banking groups, the selection of anchor banks and their respective partners. The central bank's governor, Ali Abul Hassan Sulaiman, announced in a statement Monday that the 10 anchor banks are Malayan Banking Bhd, Bumiputra-Commerce Bank Bhd, RHB Bank Bhd, Public Bank Bhd, Arab-Malaysian Bank Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd, Perwira Affin Bank Bhd, Multi-Purpose Bank Bhd, Southern Bank Bhd and EON Bank Bhd.

Malaysia's RHB to pay cash for Sarawak merger partners
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's RHB Bank Bhd will pay cash for its acquisition of Delta Finance Bhd and Interfinance Bhd, the two Sarawak-based financial institutions it is merging with, its executive chairman Rashid Hussain says. The amount to be paid will be subject to a due diligence exercise that has already started, he told a press conference here after launching Malaysia's first technology index.

Malaysian co bids for management of Millennium Dome
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's Country Heights Holdings Bhd will submit a final set of proposals for its bid to manage London's Millenium Dome by March 31 this year. Country Heights, in a consortium with Sunrise Bhd to be backed by Barclays, has proposed to reposition the Dome as an International Merchandise and Culture Center (IMCC) complemented by the development of an integrated "Meridian City" adjacent to the Dome. Country Heights is short-listed with six other international bidders, and a decision from the British government is expected by May this year. The international tender for the adaptive re-use and management of the stg758 million ($1.207 billion) Dome attracted more than 200 bidders.

Malaysia's Mimos Bhd offers support for web ventures
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia' Mimos Bhd is interested in working with entreprenuers who have ideas for content or business website to enable the entrepreneurs to get their content into the Web. "Where it entails a high cost of marketing and so on, we would like to help them gain access to the sources of funding," said Mimos President and CEO Tengku Dr Mohd Azzman Shariffadeen.

Visa, Nokia in tie up in Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR - The widespread use of mobile phones to access the Internet and buy goods and services online has been boosted following a agreement between Visa International and Nokia to introduce payment solutions for mobile electronic commerce. They signed a global agreement to develop ways in which financial institutions and mobile phone operators can offer secure payment services to their customers through a mobile phone.

Philippines exchange approves ABS-CBN PDR listing
MANILA - The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) has approved the listing application of ABS-CBN Holdings Corporation, an investment arm of the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation, for the additional listing of 272 million Philippine Deposit Receipts (PDRs). A disclosure to the PSE said that the company's PDR agent had already been notified about the swapping of 38,000 ABS-CBN shares to 38,000 PDRs. The listing will be set on Wednesday, February 16, bringing the number of the listed PDRs to 214,644,906 in exchange for the same volume of ABS-CBN shares.

Aboitiz Equity Ventures okays buy-back program
MANILA - Publicly-listed Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc has announced it has already approved its buy-back program for the year equivalent to 476,000 shares totalling P1,066,240 ($26,556) at P2.24 per share. Aboitiz has disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange that the buy-back program is expected to benefit the remaining shareholders of the company.

Indonesian cigarette giant expects 20% more sales
JAKARTA - Indonesia's cigarette giant PT HM Sampoerna Tbk (JSX: HMSP) expects 20 percent growth in sales this year as local demand for cigarettes continues to increase. The company predicts that cigarette consumption in 2000 will rise 2.5-5 percent from around 136 billion pieces last year. Sampoerna controls a 14.6 percent share of the domestic cigarette market. The company announced recently that it had invested $680,000 to install additional machinery to produce cigarettes which are spot and stain-free, using advanced Twin Wrap Paper technology.

Indonesia's Bank Mega to raise fresh funds from IPO
JAKARTA - PT Bank Mega has announced a plan to sell 112.5 million shares or about 20 percent of its enlarged shares to the public next month to raise funds for its expansion program. Bank Mega president Achjadi Ranuwisastra said the bank expected to raise between Rp100 billion ($13 million) and Rp150 billion from the initial public offering.

Telkom Indonesia posts steep rise in net income
JAKARTA - Domestic telecommunications provider PT Telkom Indonesia reported Sunday a 85.9 percent increase in net income but the surge failed to incite investors. Its consolidated income statement for 1999 showed a surge in a net earning to Rp2.17 trillion ($283.55 million) thanks to the turnaround in its foreign exchange income from a net loss in 1998 to a net profit in 1999.

Australian cos allowed to use electronic prospectuses
SYDNEY - The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has amended regulations to allow companies to issue electronic prospectuses for securities offers with the release of Policy Statement Number 150. The regulator says it had granted relief from the Corporations Law after five months consultation and deliberation on the development of a fully electronic offering system. "A key condition of the relief is that an investor must have access to the relevant prospectus when they apply for the securities, and the same information as an investor using a paper application form," ASIC said.

AAPT gives Lucent Technologies mobile network contract
SYDNEY - Shares in AAPT Ltd soared to a record high after the Australian company announced it had awarded US-based Lucent Technologies the contract to build and operate its new mobile phone network in a tandem deal with its majority shareholder Telecom Corp of New Zealand worth over A$450 million (US$283.73 million). AAPT said the arrangement would save it $90 million in capital expenditure and 20 percent in operational and maintenance costs. AAPT now expects to make a decision on funding its CDMA network, scheduled for rollout at the end of this year, within two months.

National Australia Bank offers cheap Net stock trades
MELBOURNE - National Australia Bank, the last of the big four banks to plunge into the Internet stockbroking pool, has thrown down the gauntlet by offering cheaper transaction fees. The non-advisory discount broking service, National OnLine Trading Ltd, was scheduled to open trading on Tuesday and would charge just A$27 (US$17.02) per trade for transactions up to A$13,500 (US$8,511.75).

Australia's NSW to spend US$630m on capital works
SYDNEY - The government of the Australian state New South Wales has unveiled a plan to spend A$1 billion (US$630.5 million) on capital works in the Illawarra region in the state's south. Premier Bob Carr said the money would be spent on construction and the operation of new roads, wastewater plants, rail links and health services as part of the government's post-2000 jobs plan.

CMS Energy Corp to sell stake in Loy Yang Power
AsiaNet - The CMS Energy Corporation (NYSE: CMS) has decided to sell its 50 percent interest in the 2000 megawatt Loy Yang Power plant and coal mine complex near Melbourne, Australia. Proceeds from the sale will be in addition to the US$600 to $750 million the company expects to receive for non-strategic assets already sold or expected to be sold by April.

Wings of Indian pepper, castor bourses to merge
NEW DELHI - India's Forward Markets Commission (FMC) has favored the merger of the international and domestic wings of the country's two leading commodity exchanges - International Pepper Exchange and Bombay Oil and Oilseed Exchange - in an attempt to increase trade volume and liquidity. The Reserve Bank of India last year permitted futures trading in pepper and castor oil in dollars with a view to attracting more foreign participants, but trade volumes have been negligible according to FMC Chairman K C Mishra.

(Asia Pulse)

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