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World Business Quick Take

■ TELECOMS
Chinese carrier in Japan
China Network Communi-cations Group Corp (中國網通) has opened its first business base in Japan to allow Internet providers to use its communications lines linking the two countries, a newspaper said yesterday. China's second-largest fixed-line telecommunications carrier also plans to offer data communications services for Japanese firms that operate in China, the Nikkei Shimbun reported. With the project, China Network Communi-cations has become the first major Chinese carrier to enter the Japanese telecommuni-cations market, the paper said.

■ TELECOMS
EU could use roaming rates
Calling home from European beaches will be cheaper for mobile phone users this summer if EU lawmakers and the European Commission get their way on planned caps for so-called roaming rates. Plans to force operators to charge less on cross-border calls in the EU received a boost last week when a key EU panel backed the package in the face of fierce lobbying from operators fearful of losing revenues. The European Parliament's industry committee voted broadly in favor of capping the price of calls made abroad in the EU at US$0.40 per minute and US$0.15 for calls received abroad.

■ BANKING
CITIC to offer 7.19b shares
China CITIC Bank (中信銀行), the latest Chinese lender to announce its international listing, said yesterday it hopes to raise US$10.26 billion when it goes public at the end of the month. Launching the prospectus for its initial public offering, China's seventh-largest bank said that it will offer investors 7.19 billion shares in a dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai, set for April 27. The bank will issue 4.89 H-Shares listed in Hong Kong to investors in the territory and international buyers. The bank has an option to issue an additional 732 million more if the offer is over-subscribed.

■ FINANCE
Caracas pays off loans
Venezuela said it paid off US$3 billion in loans owed to the IMF and the World Bank this week, ending ties to two multilateral lenders it says curtailed its "economic sovereignty" for decades. The government will save US$8 million in interest payments with the World Bank through 2012, Finance Minister Rodrigo Cabezas said at a press conference at his office in Caracas on Saturday. The government will continue to borrow money from the Washington-based Inter American Development Bank and the Caracas-based Andean Development Corp to finance future infrastructure projects.

■ BUSINESS
Wesfarmers finalizes offer
Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers yesterday said it would finalize an offer for retail giant Coles as soon as possible, but refused to say if it would raise its A$19.7 billion (US$16.4 billion) bid. Wesfarmers is the front-runner to take over Coles, the country's second-largest retailer, after the group's announcement of an effective competitive auction of its assets in February. If its bid is successful, Wesfarmers will have spearheaded one of the largest takeovers in Australian corporate history. It faces competition from a field reported to include a private equity group led by US-based Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, British supermarket chain Tesco and Australia's biggest retailer Woolworths.


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