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Business Quick Take

■ AUTOMOBILES
Tata interested in UK brands
The head of India's Tata conglomerate confirmed on Friday that his group was interested in bidding for luxury British car brands Jaguar and Land Rover, in an interview with an Indian news channel. "We certainly have an interest in that segment but it is not the time to comment on it now," Tata told business channel CNBC TV 18 according to an excerpt of the interview on the company Web site. "It is to give ourselves scale and global reach, as we take ourselves away from subordination to a single economy."

■ COMPUTERS
Seagate to boost product line
Seagate Technology, the world's largest hard-disk drive maker, will introduce devices that use flash memory for storage next year, expanding its product line. The company already makes drives that combine flash memory on a hard disk, spokesman Forrest Monroy said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. Seagate will start producing flash-based drives next year and may also make devices containing both flash and a hard disk, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Chief Executive Officer Bill Watkins. Seagate is based in the Cayman Islands and run from Scotts Valley, California.

■ SECURITIES
Goldman wins approval
Goldman Sachs Group Inc, the world's largest securities firm, won approval from China's government to buy 10 percent of the country's biggest maker of automotive glass. Fuyao Group Glass Industries Co (福耀玻璃) said the Ministry of Commerce approved a plan to sell as many as 111.28 million shares to Goldman's investment fund unit, the Chinese company said in a statement to Shanghai's stock exchange on Friday. The glassmaker, based in Fujian Province, said in November that Goldman's GS Capital Partners V fund plans to buy 111.28 million of its shares for 8 yuan each and hold them for three years, valuing the investment at 890 million yuan (US$117.6 million).

■ CHINA
Shanghai to boost transport
The nation's largest city Shanghai plans to spend 110 billion yuan (US$14.5 billion) on upgrading its public transport system ahead of the 2010 World Expo, state media said yesterday. The sum, unveiled by the municipal government on Friday, will be spent mainly on building more rail lines and bus transfer hubs, the Xinhua news agency reported. The city will put more buses on the road by establishing more routes running through the city's downtown, suburbia and townships in the peripheral area of the city. It will also set up another 3,500 parking spaces for buses and instal digital signboards at bus stops to provide transport information for commuters.

■ FINANCE
Germans mull legislation
The German government said on Friday it would examine the possibility of introducing legislation to protect companies from raids mounted by foreign investors. The legislation could involve "a special system of control procedures to protect national interests in the face of problematic foreign investments," the government said in a document. The measure could oblige foreign investors to inform authorities when they are buying shares in German companies, even those not listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange. Chancellor Angela Merkel's government said it wanted to hold talks with banks about creating "capital reserves" which could be used to help companies threatened by hostile takeovers.


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