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Business Quick Take

■INSURANCE

Nan Shan customers flee

American International Group’s (AIG) Taiwanese life insurance unit said customers terminated about NT$20 million (US$624,025) in policies this week after the New York-based company agreed to give up a 79.9 percent stake in return for a bailout. The unit is operating as normal, April Pan (潘玲嬌), a spokeswoman at Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽), 95 percent owned by AIG, said yesterday. Nan Shan’s premium income was NT$255.7 billion for the fiscal year ended on Nov. 30, last year, Pan said. Nan Shan has total assets of NT$1.5 trillion, 23 branches and more than 380 agency offices as of the end of July, according to the company’s Web site.



■FINANCE

Lehman fallout limited

China Construction Bank (中國建設銀行), one of the country’s four largest banks, revealed it has a US$191.4 million exposure to Lehman Brothers and said it was not expected to have a “significant impact.” In a statement on its Web site on Friday, the Chinese bank announced that it and its subsidiaries held US$141.4 million in senior bonds from the collapsed US investment bank and US$50 million in subordinated bonds. The bonds represented 0.019 percent of the net assets of the banking group, it said. “It is expected that the Lehman Brothers event will not have any significant impact on the financial position of the bank,” the bank said.



■COMPUTERS

Apple recalls adapters

Apple said on Friday it would replace power adapters sold with its popular iPhone 3G mobile telephones because of a risk prongs could snap and cause people to be jolted by electricity. “We have received reports of detached blades involving a very small percentage of the adapters sold, but no injuries have been reported,” the California company said on a Web page providing adapter exchange details. The part Apple is offering to replace is an “Ultracompact USB power adapter” reportedly included with iPhone 3G models sold in Japan, Canada, Mexico, the US and a half dozen South American countries. Instructions for getting Apple adapters replaced were online at www.apple.com.



■ELECTRONICS

Philips to boost margins

Royal Philips Electronics NV, Europe’s largest maker of consumer electronics, plans to boost margins by ending losses at the television unit and raising prices, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gerard Kleisterlee said. The “overarching” goal is to more than double earnings before interest, tax and amortization per share by 2010, the CEO said in an interview at Philips headquarters in Amsterdam. “The primary goal is doubling Ebita per share and all the other elements are means to an end,” Kleisterlee said.



■ENERGY

Venezuela inks gas accords

Venezuela signed accords with private companies from more than a half-dozen countries on Friday, launching a major push into natural gas projects that are expected to bring some US$19.6 billion in joint investment. State oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA signed eight agreements to develop offshore natural gas deposits with US-based Chevron Corp, Russia’s Gazprom, Italy’s Eni SpA, Portugal’s GALP Energia, Qatar Petroleum, Malasyia’s Petronas, Argentina’s Enarsa and the Japanese companies Mitsui, Mitsubishi and Itochu Corp. Officials expect joint investment over the next eight years to hit some US$19.6 billion, Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters.


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