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World Business Quick Take

■ Medical Supplies
Biomet draws better offer
An improved offer to buy Biomet Inc may provide enough incentive to seal a deal initially rejected by a major shareholder and a couple of shareholder-advisory firms. The maker of orthopedic products announced on Thursday that a private equity consortium had increased its bid by 4.5 percent from US$10.9 billion to US$11.4 billion. The new offer is for US$46 a share, up from US$44 a share. The consortium includes Biomet founder and former chief executive Dane Miller and affiliates of the Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and TPG.

■ Building Materials
Cemex now the largest
Mexican cement giant Cemex SA became the world's largest supplier of building materials after it won a majority stake in Australia's Rinker Group Ltd, overcoming concerns of potential market dominance in the US. Cemex announced on Thursday it had won acceptance of its US$14.25 billion takeover bid from shareholders representing 50.34 percent of Rinker stock. The acquisition of Rinker will boost Cemex's annual sales of about US$18.2 billion by some US$5 billion, putting it ahead of France's LaFarge, generally considered the largest building materials company with US$21.4 billion a year in sales.

■ Telecoms
Former chief pleads guilty
A former top executive for the Latin American arm of French telecommunications giant Alcatel-Lucent has pleaded guilty to funneling millions of US dollars in bribes to Costa Rican officials to win a lucrative contract. Christian Sapsizian pleaded guilty on Thursday in US District Court in Miami to two counts, conspiracy and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. As part of his plea, Sapsizian has agreed to cooperate with law enforcement authorities in their ongoing investigation. Sapsizian faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a US$250,000 fine and US$330,000 in forfeiture when sentenced on Dec. 20.

■ Investing
Warburg to enter China
Private equity investor Warburg Pincus plans to enter China's booming furniture market by spending more than US$190 million on a stake in the country's largest furniture chain, state media said yesterday. The leading US-based private equity firm is in final-stage talks to buy about 20 percent of Red Star Furniture Group for as much as 1.5 billion yuan (US$196 million), the China Securities Journal reported. The deal, if finalized, will overtake a US$125 million investment the US investor made last year in Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings Ltd (國美電器), China's No. 1 home appliance chain.

■ Corruption
Asia fraud harmful: survey
US companies in Southeast Asia say corruption is a "major impediment" to doing business in the region except in Singapore, a survey of US businesses released yesterday said. But the survey of senior executives in US companies in six Southeast Asian countries also showed US businesses were confident of growth in the region, a statement from the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore said. The companies surveyed were in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, the statement said.


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