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Business Quick Take

■ LEISURE

Hasbro to buy Cranium

The maker of Monopoly is adding to its empire of board games. Hasbro Inc, the world's second-largest toy company, has agreed to buy privately held game maker Cranium Inc. for about US$77.5 million, the companies said on Friday. Pawtucket-based Hasbro owns the board game brands Parker Brothers and Milton Bradley, which make perennially popular games including Scrabble, Clue and Battleship as well as Monopoly. Cranium, based in Seattle, is best known for its Cranium board game, which requires players to hum, draw or sculpt their way to the top.



■ TRANSPORTATION

China's airports get lift

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is to lend and invest a total of US$214 million in China's airports, its first foray into the sector, the Manila-based financial institution announced yesterday. The move is part of a project to develop the economy in China's western region and mobilize private sector funding for its airports so that local governments can channel funding into social welfare programs, the ADB said. The ADB will make a US$50 million equity investment in HNA Airport Holding Group Co Ltd, a private company primarily involved in the privatization of China's airports. The ADB will also extend a loan of US$164 million to the project, with risk participation from international banks.



■ RETAIL

Shops to open at ground zero

The owner of the World Trade Center site is teaming up with an Australian retailer to develop upscale stores and restaurants in the new office towers being built at the ground zero site of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey approved the US$1.45 billion deal on Friday with The Westfield Group, one of the world's largest mall operators. The Sydney, Australia-based retailer will contribute US$625 million and the Port Authority $825 million to build high-end stores and restaurants, half of them facing city streets that are being resurrected at the former superblock complex.



■ SUBPRIME CRISIS

Fed to auction more funds

The Federal Reserve announced on Friday that it is increasing the amount of money available to US banks through the new auction process it created to ease the severe credit squeeze. The Fed again pledged to continue the auctions "for as long as necessary." The Fed said that it will increase the amount offered at each of the next two auctions from US$20 billion to US$30 billion, a 50 percent jump. Those two auctions will be Jan. 14 and Jan. 28. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues decided to try the auction approach because banks had feared accepting direct injections would carry a stigma that would raise doubts among investors about the soundness of institutions using the discount window.



■ ENERGY

India IPO may be largest yet

India's Reliance Power Ltd plans to open its initial public offering of shares next week in what could be the country's largest listing yet, the company said. Reliance Power is a subsidiary of Reliance Energy Ltd and a part of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, a business conglomerate with interests in telecommunications, finance and entertainment. The planned sale of 260 million shares is expected to raise nearly US$3 billion, with shares offered in a price band of 405 rupees (US$10.30) to 450 rupees, company chairman Anil Ambani said on Friday. The IPO opens from Jan. 15 through Jan. 18.
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