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Business Quick Take

■ RESTAURANTS

Mitsubishi buys KFC Japan

Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corp said yesterday that it successfully completed a friendly takeover of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) Japan Ltd, which owns more than 1,500 KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants around the country. Mitsubishi, which already owned 31 percent of KFC Japan's shares, will pay &ye n1,947 (US$16.91) each for a further 7.62 million shares, the bulk of which are held by US-based KFC Corporate Holdings Ltd, it said in a statement. The Tokyo-based trading company will hold nearly 65 percent of KFC Japan's voting shares as a result of the &ye n14.83 billion transaction.



■ RETAIL

CompUSA stores to close

Consumer electronics retailer CompUSA said it will close its store operations after the holidays following sale of the company to Gordon Brothers Group LLC, a restructuring firm. Financial terms were not disclosed. Dallas-based CompUSA operates 103 stores, which plan to run store-closing sales during the holidays. Privately held CompUSA, controlled by Mexican financier Carlos Slim Helu's Grupo Carso SA, said on Friday that talks were under way to sell certain stores in key markets. Stores that cannot be sold will be closed.



■ AVIATION

Qaddafi signs contracts

Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi will sign several contracts during a visit to France next week, including for Airbus planes and a nuclear reactor, his son said in an interview published on Friday. Seif el-Islam Qaddafi told the Web site of the Figaro daily the Airbus deal would be "worth more than 3 billion euros" (US$4.38 billion). Muammar Qaddafi is due to pitch a Bedouin tent in gardens next to the Elysee presidential palace in Paris on Monday at the start of a five-day visit, his first to France since November 1973. His son also said the purchase of Rafale fighter jets would be discussed, in the latest sign of improving Franco-Libyan relations.



■ TELECOMS

HK firm plans wireless trial

PCCW Ltd, Hong Kong's largest telephone company, said it will launch a trial wireless service based on WiMax technology in the UK next year. The network will have the capacity for "a few thousand" users, group managing director Alex Arena told reporters in Hong Kong yesterday. The firm plans to start network construction in the first quarter, before making a decision midyear on extending the service, he said. UK Broadband, PCCW's UK unit, started a wireless broadband service in the country in 2004 using an older technology. PCCW is in talks with companies in Taiwan and other markets to provide pay-TV services, Arena said.



■ CHINA

Bank reserve rule adjusted

China's central bank announced yesterday that it would raise the reserve ratio requirement for banks by a full percentage point to 14.5 percent on Dec. 25. The People's Bank of China made the move "to strengthen the management of liquidity in the banking system and curb the excessive growth of credit," it said in a statement. The move, the 10th such increase in the requirement this year, was expected following exceptionally strong recent economic growth and inflation data. The hike follows a half percentage point increase on Nov. 10. The requirement for banks is the amount of money they must hold in reserve, affecting the amount of money flowing through the economy.
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