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World Business Quick Take

■ Auto industry
GM, Toyota may cooperate
Senior officials of several Japanese and US automakers will meet this month, with Toyota Motor expected to offer troubled US giant General Motors cooperation on safety and environmental technologies, a report said yesterday. GM chairman Richard Wagoner will visit Japan for talks with Toyota President Fujio Cho when they are expected to discuss ways that Toyota may work with the world's largest automaker, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said without citing sources. The two men are likely to talk about how Toyota can help particularly in the fields of safety and environmental technologies, the newspaper said. The scheduled talks will come after Toyota chairman Hiroshi Okuda said his company was ready to discuss such issues with GM and Ford whose business is struggling as foreign makers, especially Japanese and South Korean companies, eat into their market share.

■ Finance
ADB urged to raise lending
China's Finance Minister Jin Renqing (金人慶) yesterday called on the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to boost its level of lending, telling participants at the bank's annual meeting in Turkey that it should listen more to its borrowers. Speaking at the ADB meeting in Istanbul, Jin noted that total lending last year had decreased compared to 2003 and that the net transfer of resources to developing member countries had been negative for two consecutive years. "To meet the demands of (developing member countries) better, the ADB should make efforts to maintain a reasonable level of lending while improving its aid effectiveness and further strengthening its support to the private sector," he said.

■ Oil
Owners form new company
A group of private Chinese refinery and filling station owners plan to form a new oil company to compete with their giant, state-owned rivals, a newspaper said yesterday. The new corporation's activities will range from drilling to refining and sales, the China Daily reported, citing the China Chamber of Commerce for Petroleum Industry, part of the official All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. The announcement comes as China prepares to open its wholesale oil industry to foreign investors by next year under commitments to the WTO. The retail portion of the industry was opened to companies with foreign investment in December. The new company will be named "Great Wall" and plans to sell shares to investors abroad, Wang said.

■ Software
Watchdata cuts IPO shares
Watchdata Technologies Ltd has cut both the number of shares and the price range for its initial public offering, which is expected to price Wednesday night. Watchdata, a Beijing company that makes operating system software with data security and encryption functions, is now scheduled to sell 3 million American Depository Shares, down from the 4 million it previously had registered. The price range has been lowered to US$14 to US$15 a share, down from US$18 to US$20 a share. If priced Wednesday night as expected, the stock should begin trading as of yesterday on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol "WDAT." A group of current shareholders that had planned to sell part of their existing stakes in the company to the public has now pulled its shares from the offering; instead, all the shares in the deal will come solely from the company.

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