World Business Quick Take

■ REAL ESTATE
Hong Kong to relaunch REIT
The Hong Kong government said yesterday it will relaunch the world's largest property sale this week, nearly a year after it saw off a legal challenge that delayed the original plan. The sale will see publicly-owned malls and car parks scattered throughout the city's public housing estates bundled into a trust and traded on the open market. The Housing Authority, which owns the public housing assets, said it will raise up to HK$19.83 billion (US$2.54 billion) through the sale of 1.93 billion units of the so-called Link real estate investment trust (REIT) in a global initial public offering or IPO. The international offering has been priced in a range of HK$9.70 to HK$10.30 each unit, lower than the range of HK$10.51 to HK$10.83 when the trust was first launched last year. Applications for shares will be available starting today and trading of the units has been scheduled for Nov. 25.

■ AVIATION
Malaysia Air cutting costs
Flagship carrier Malaysia Airlines will launch a cost-cutting drive from next month, with some senior staff taking pay cuts of up to 30 percent, news reports said yesterday. In a memo sent to staff earlier this week, Malaysia Airlines Chairman Munir Majid said that the company's "financial performance is precarious and has increasingly become a source for concern," the New Sunday Times reported. "There is now a need to extend the scope of the cost reduction focus and put in place more aggressive measures," Munir said. In the note, Munir said that Malaysia Airlines plans to cut its fuel bill by 10 percent this fiscal year. Among other measures to be taken are the deferment of non-critical investments and services and a freeze on new recruitments. Division heads reporting to top management would take a voluntary pay cut of 15 to 30 percent starting next month.

■ BANKING
Mitsubishi to raise cash
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, the world's biggest banking group by assets, is looking at raising up to US$4.2 billion next year, a news report said yesterday. The money would go to repaying public funds that were used to replenish its capital, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said, citing sources in the group. Japan has injected nearly ?10 trillion (US$84.7 billion) into 16 major banks since the late 1990s to shore up their balance sheets as they struggled to improve profitability and write off a mountain of bad loans. As of Sept. 30, UFJ had roughly ?1.4 trillion of public funds to be returned to the government. The planned fund-raising would likely come through issuing preferred subscription securities, the paper said, and would aim at raising between US$2.5 billion and US$4.2 billion.

■ AVIATION
Airbus to pay compensation
Airbus SAS, the world's biggest maker of commercial aircraft, will pay airlines millions of dollars in compensation for late deliveries of its A380 jetliners. Singapore Airlines, Qantas Airways Ltd and Malaysian Airline System Bhd are seeking compensation from Airbus because deliveries of A380 planes they ordered may delayed as long as a half-year. "Remember, the airplane costs about US$285 million a copy, so I think it is safe to say we are talking about a couple of million dollars," Airbus Chief Commercial Officer John Leahy told Nine Network's Business Sunday program yesterday. An A380, the world's largest passenger plane, landed in Sydney yesterday on a test flight.