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World business quick take

■Banking
SK Global to be rescued
Key creditors of SK Global, the trading arm of South Korea's third largest business group, have reached a tentative agreement to rescue the firm, major creditor Hana Bank said yesterday. The agreement came late Tuesday in response to a proposal from the group's parent company SK Group to shoulder a larger share of the bailout, a bank spokesman said. Under the new rescue plan the group's flagship company SK Corp will convert 850 billion won (US$707 million) in debt owed by SK Global into equity. The new offer includes the write-off of a further 600 billion won in overseas debt.

■ Financial crime
Investors allege swindle
More than 100 disgruntled investors stood in silent protest outside a government building in Beijing yesterday, accusing an adviser to the city council of defrauding them of their savings. The peaceful protest near Tiananmen Square was not related to the 14th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre, but the sensitive timing attracted dozens of police on high alert for the tiniest flicker of dissent on or near the vast plaza. The protesters, mostly elderly, said a member of the Beijing People's Political Consultative Conference, sold them space on an altar at a pagoda for the storage of funeral urns, promising they could sell the space at a big profit in the future. The Chinese government has been encouraging cremation, after which ashes are stored in urns, instead of burying the dead in recent years because of a shortage of land. The company which sold them the altar space has gone bankrupt and the investors are unable to get their money back.

■ Computers
IBM under investigation
Shares of IBM Corp fell 4 percent Tuesday after the company disclosed that the SEC is investigating how the technology giant booked revenue in 2000 and 2001. IBM said after the close of trading Monday that it had received a notice of a formal SEC investigation primarily concerning "certain types of customer transactions." Spokesmen for IBM declined to elaborate. The company said it believes the probe arose from a separate SEC investigation into a customer of IBM's retail store solutions unit, which sells cash registers and other checkout-counter computing equipment. SEC spokesman John Heine declined comment. IBM shares lost US$3.51 to close at US$83.82 in trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

■ Insider trading
Stewart's indictment sought
Federal prosecutors are close to hitting home-decorating mogul Martha Stewart with criminal charges in the insider-trading scandal that has been hanging over her head for the past year. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Stewart's media company, disclosed hours before its annual meeting Tuesday that federal prosecutors in New York are seeking a grand jury indictment of Stewart "in the near future." Shares of her media company plunged on the news that the scandal could bring down Stewart, the embodiment of the brand. The company also said federal securities regulators -- who have already notified Stewart they intend to file civil charges against her -- likely will file their own complaint soon. A civil complaint from the SEC could eventually cost Stewart hefty fines and her position as CEO of the media company.

Agencies
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