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■ Markets
First Chinese IPO in Japan
Asia Media Co (亞洲互動傳媒), a Beijing-based provider of TV program guides, will next month become the first company from China to launch an initial public offering in Japan, officials said yesterday. The Tokyo Stock Exchange approved the company to list its shares on the so-called Mothers market for emerging companies on Thursday and the shares will debut on April 26, according to exchange spokesman Satoshi Futaki. Asia Media plans to make an initial public offering of 4.7 million new shares, another exchange spokesman Toru Onoda said. The company is not listed in China or any other market, he said.

■ Energy
Judge charges Total CEO
An investigating judge filed preliminary charges on Thursday against the chief executive of Total SA in a corruption case linked to a 1997 contract with Iran, judicial officials and Total said. Preliminary charges were filed against Total chief executive Christophe de Margerie for abuse of company assets and corruption of foreign agents in connection with the case in which bribes are suspected, the officials said. In a statement, Total confirmed that preliminary charges were filed against its chief executive concerning an investigation "related to the development of the South Pars project in Iran."

■ Telecoms
Palm profits plummet
Palm Inc reported a 61 percent drop in its third-quarter profits on Thursday as speculation of a buyout continued to swirl. For the three months ended March 2, the Sunnyvale-based maker of Treo smart phones said it earned US$11.8 million, or US$0.11 per share, on revenue of US$410.5 million. Excluding stock-based compensation and other one-time items, Palm said it would have earned US$16.5 million, or US$0.16 per share, compared with US$19.8 million, or US$0.19 per share, in the year-ago period. On that basis, analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of US$0.12 per share on sales of US$403.6 million, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.

■ Airlines
Qantas bid suffers setback
A private equity group said its A$11.1 billion (US$8.9 billion) takeover bid for Australian airline Qantas suffered a setback yesterday when a key shareholder rejected the offer. Airline Partners Australia (APA) needs at least 90 percent of shareholders to accept its offer of A$5.45 a share. But Balance Equity Management, which holds a 4 percent stake in the airline, said it did not intend to accept the bid due to the strong conditions in the domestic share market, the consortium said. Balanced Equity said equity markets had appreciated significantly since the announcement of the bid.

■ Insurance
State Farm suit rejected
A federal judge on Thursday refused to allow a class action against State Farm Insurance Cos over the insurer's denial of claims by customers on Mississippi's Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. State Farm policyholder Judy Guice had asked the judge to permit her to join other policyholders whose homes were reduced to slabs by the August 2005 storm in a class action against the insurer. But the judge, who heard testimony on the proposal during a Feb. 28 hearing, ruled on Thursday that a class action for "slab cases" is "inconsistent with the requirements of due process."


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