World Business Quick Take

■ Oil
Japanese firms win license
Japan's Inpex Holdings and Mitsui Oil Exploration said yesterday they had jointly won a license to develop oil fields in Libya. Inpex is set to start work on an oil block near Libya's western border early next year after signing a contract with Libya's state-owned National Oil Corp, according to an Inpex statement. Inpex will hold an 85 percent stake in the project, its third in Libya, while Mitsui Oil Exploration will hold 15 percent, the statement said.

■ Banking
ICBC overtakes HSBC
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC, 中國工商銀行), which raised US$22 billion in the world's biggest initial public offering, overtook HSBC Holdings Plc as the largest non-US bank by market value after its shares rose to a record level. Shares of ICBC surged by the daily limit of 9.9 percent to close at ¥5.21 in Shanghai, valuing the firm at US$214.2 billion. HSBC had a market capitalization of ¥106.5 billion (US$208.4 billion) at the close of trading in London on Friday, behind Citigroup Inc, the largest financial firm, at US$268 billion and Bank of America Corp at US$239.6 billion.

■ Tourism
S Korean tourist figures rise
South Korea attracted a record number of more than 6 million tourists this year despite a strong won, the North Korean missile and nuclear tests and a bird flu outbreak, officials said. But visitors faced with the rising won are spending less, yesterday's Korea Times quoted the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) as saying. The number of foreign tourists passed the 6 million mark last week and is expected to reach 6.15 million by year-end, surpassing last year's record of 6.02 million, the KTO said. The government forecast for this year was 6.5 million. High oil prices and the continuing dispute between Seoul and Tokyo over historical issues were also seen as partly responsible for failure to meet the target.

■ Insurance
China Life sets price range
China Life Insurance Co (中國人壽), China's largest life insurer, could raise up to 28.3 billion yuan (US$3.6 billion) from its initial public offering in Shanghai, state press reported yesterday. The Beijing-based company set the price range for its planned offer of 1.5 billion shares at between 18.16 yuan and 18.88 yuan apiece, the company said in a statement published by the Shanghai Securities News. The official trading date of the IPO is proposed to be before Jan. 11, said the company in a separate statement, in compliance with an expected listing date of Jan. 9, reported earlier.

■ Automobiles
Toyota closing gap on GM
Toyota Motor Corp yesterday reported its 25th straight month of growth in worldwide production as it closed in on General Motors' position as the world's biggest vehicle maker. Toyota said its global production totaled 736,003 vehicles last month, up 12.3 percent from the same month last year. Overseas production climbed 10.5 percent to 350,300 in the 59th consecutive month of increase, while domestic output rose 14.1 percent to 385,703, the 15th straight monthly gain. Last week, Toyota executives laid out a production target of 9.42 million vehicles for next year, a 4 percent increase over the 9.04 million vehicles it expects to produce this year and more than the 9.2 million that GM Corp is estimated to have produced this year.