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World Business Quick Take

■ Toys
Bandai, Namco join forces
Toy maker Bandai Co and game manufacturer Namco Ltd said yesterday they will set up a joint holding company to create Japan's second largest toy-game business group amid escalating industrywide competition. A new umbrella company, Namco Bandai Holdings Inc, will be established in September, the companies said in a statement. The merger will bring their combined sales to ¥450 billion (US$4.28 billion), second only to Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. Bandai president Takeo Takasu will become the holding company's president, while Namco vice chairman Kyushiro Takagi will become chairman, the companies said. Combining Bandai's character merchandising capability and Namco's game development know-how would allow the two companies to stay competitive in the global market, they said. Bandai, the nation's leading toy maker, is known for the "Tamagotchi" virtual pet, while Namco is a major developer of home video games, including PacMan.

■ Automakers
SAIC to build own `Rover'
Shanghai Auto, a unit of China's largest automaker, plans to produce its own branded cars, probably based on the Rover 75, by the first quarter of 2007 in a move which will put it in competition with current partners General Motors and Volkswagen, a press report said yesterday. Zhao Fenggao, general manager at Shanghai Automotive Co (SAC), the listed unit owned by Shanghai Auto Industry Corp (SAIC), said production would be based at a plant in Yizheng, in eastern Jiangsu Province, the South China Morning Post reported. Industry sources told the newspaper that the car would be based on the Rover 75 chassis with a new exterior. In November last year, SAIC paid £67 million (US$127.7 million) to British firm MG Rover for the right to manufacture the Rover 75 and Rover 25. The Rover 75, which was first produced for the UK market in June 1999, was MG Rover's best-known model and a key reason why SAIC was interested in buying the company.

■ Internet
EU spending set to double
European spending on Internet online consumer products such as music, videos and games is set to double this year, thanks to the spread of broadband access, a recent study says. According to the Frankfurt-based European Information Technology Observatory, revenues should reach 3 billion euros (US$3.87 billion) this year, rising to 16 billion euros in 2008. By then consumer online revenues are expected to exceed business-segment revenues. Spending on videos is expected to reach a billion euros this year, with revenues from games not far behind. Online music is another growth area.

■ Automobiles
Kids safest in back seat
Children are safer in car crashes when they sit in the back seat, and are less likely to be injured when safety seats and seat belts are used, a new study emphasized. "The single most important lifesaving decision parents can make for their child is to use the rear seat and age and size-appropriate restraints during every car ride, every time," said Dr Flaura Winston, a pediatrician and chief investigator of the study, which was released yesterday. The study notes that almost a third of the nearly 1,800 children who died in car crashes in 2003 in the US were riding in the front seat and more than half weren't restrained.

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