Sun, Dec 13, 2009 page11

• Business Quick Take a

  • AGENCIES
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  ■ECONOMY

  Star industry list to expand

  Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) will expand the government’s list of new star industries to include the patterned innovation, green building, information and communications technology (ICT) and smart electric car sectors. Wu’s predecessor, Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), had already designated specialty agriculture, green energy, healthcare, tourism, cultural innovation and biotechnology as industries with outstanding potential. The four new sectors will be added to the list, Wu said on Friday as he attended the closing ceremony of a training course for local leaders sponsored by the southern branch of the Executive Yuan in Kaohsiung.

  ■DUBAI DEBT

  Japan firms owed US$7.5bn

  Japan’s non-financial firms had about US$7.5 billion in uncollected bills from the Dubai government and its affiliated firms as of the end of October, the Nikkei business daily reported yesterday. The data, excluding bank loans, were derived from a total of 18 projects worth about US$15 billion and involving Japanese general contractors, trading houses and electric machinery manufacturers, the daily said. The figures include public works projects commissioned by the Dubai government, it added.

  ■AUTOMAKERS

  VW targets India growth

  Volkswagen AG (VW), Europe’s biggest carmaker, said it aims to capture as much as 10 percent of India’s car market in four to six years as it boosts sales in emerging markets. The Wolfsburg, Germany-based company will sell cars under three brands, including Skoda and Audi AG, to achieve its targets, VW said in a statement in Chakan near Pune in western India. Production of its Polo compact car began yesterday at the plant, which opened earlier this year.

  ■CONSUMER GOODS

  P&G buys Ambi Pur

  Procter & Gamble Co (P&G), the world’s largest consumer-goods company, agreed to buy Sara Lee Corp’s Ambi Pur brand for about 320 million euros (US$468 million) to boost air-freshener sales outside the US. Ambi Pur will help Procter & Gamble expand in Europe, Australia, Africa and some countries in Asia. The sale is expected to close in the current fiscal year, which ends on June 30 next year.

  ■ECONOMY

  OECD points to recovery

  The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said its leading economic indicator for member countries improved in October, led by increases in Germany, the UK and Russia. The indicator increased by 1 point from September to 101.4, the Paris-based organization said in a statement on Friday. That is 5.7 points higher than in October last year and the highest reading since April last year. The indicator “continues to point to a recovery,” the OECD said in a statement.

  ■INVESTMENT

  Citigroup sued over EMI deal

  Citigroup Inc was sued over the 2007 acquisition of EMI Group Ltd by private-equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd, which said the bank misrepresented that another firm was bidding on the record company. Terra Firma sued to recover “lost equity of billions of dollars” and obtain punitive damages from Citigroup, which stood to garner substantial fees from the deal as investment adviser and lender to EMI and sole financier to the private-equity company, according to a complaint filed on Friday in the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan.
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