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World Business Quick Take

■ Oil
CNOOC may sweeten offer
The board of China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC, 中國海洋石油) Ltd was expected to meet yesterday to consider raising its US$18.5 billion bid for US oil major Unocal Corp, the Financial Times reported. Citing people familiar with the deal, the FT said CNOOC's directors would consider increasing its offer above the current level of US$67 a share in cash. The report coincided with CNOOC launching an ad campaign in the US in a bid to persuade US lawmakers that Unocal will be safe in its hands. The FT said Unocal's 10-member board was expected to gather today to decide whether to continue supporting the Chevron transaction or switch its recommendation to CNOOC.

■ Investment
FDI in China drops
Foreign direct investment in China fell 3.2 percent in the first half of the year as falling prices and rising costs prompted global manufacturers to cool expansion in the world's fastest-growing major economy. Overseas investment fell to US$28.6 billion after declining 0.8 percent in the first five months, the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday on its Web site. Contracted foreign investmen rose 19 percent from a year earlier to $86.2 billion in the period. The government said on Tuesday that it will keep tax breaks for some foreign investors because rising labor costs and raw material shortages have madeChina's need for technology transfers and management expertise more urgent.

■ Automobiles
Mitsubishi cuts NedCar jobs
Automaker Mitsubishi Motors will cut nearly 20 percent of the jobs at its subsidiary Netherlands Car BV, or NedCar, from early next year to survive fierce competition, the companies said. Mitsubishi has agreed with labor representatives of Nedcar to sack 368 employees and to transfer 300 others to a labor pool for temporary positions for up to three years. NedCar is the only big manufacturer of passenger cars in the Netherlands with a workforce of about 3,900, according to its Web site. NedCar produced 187,600 vehicles last year, according to a Mitsubishi Motors spokesman in Tokyo.

■ Real estate
Trump sues HK partners
US property tycoon Donald Trump is suing his Hong Kong partners in a New York real-estate deal, accusing them of underselling a plot of prime Manhattan land, reports said yesterday. Trump claims Hong Kong investors who joined in the deal -- including New World Development tycoon Henry Cheng -- began selling parts of the property last year without telling him. He alleges the investors told him in April that they had agreed to sell the property for US$1.8 billion. But it later emerged that they had been offered US$3 billion from another bidder. Trump is seeking US$1 billion in the lawsuit, the paper said.

■ Banking
ING Group eyes Asia growth
Dutch financial services giant ING Group is looking to expand its presence in Asia and views the region as an engine for growth, Sheel Kohli, head of corporate communication in the region, said in a published report yesterday. "It is the company's objective to be either one of the top three foreign players or among the top five players in each of the markets in which we operate," Kohli was quoted as saying. These include Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea.

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