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World Business Quick Take

■ FINANCE
Northern Rock attracts bid
Businessman Jose Maria Ruiz-Mateos has offered to buy a 10 percent stake in troubled British mortgage lender Northern Rock, a spokeswoman for the Spanish entrepreneur said on Thursday. Pilar Bernal said Ruiz-Mateos had delivered the offer through letters to Northern Rock CEO Adam Applegarth and to chairman Matt Ridley. "An offer has been made for 10 percent," Bernal said by phone from London. "It's being put forward by Ruiz-Mateos personally, backed by a group of investors." Ruiz-Mateos, 76, built a business empire that included retailers, food companies and banks.

■ AUTOMOBILES
Ghosn betting on China
Carlos Ghosn, head of Renault and Nissan, said yesterday that a major name among global automakers might be taken over by an emerging market rival in the coming years. "I think that Chinese, Indian or Russian manufacturers will buy established automobile groups or merge with them or sign cooperative agreements," Ghosn told the German daily Die Welt in an interview. "It's natural," he said, adding that "China is going to become one of the biggest markets in the world and it is very likely that at least one Chinese manufacturer appears on the global market. "There is no reason why an Indian automobile group should not play a global role" as well, he said.

■ BEVERAGES
Starbucks, Pepsi ink deal
Starbucks Corp, the world's largest chain of coffee shops, and PepsiCo Inc said they will expand a distribution venture, starting in China. Starbucks will sell ready-to-drink beverages through PepsiCo's distribution network, the companies said on Thursday. The accord may expand bottled Starbucks drinks to countries that don't have Starbucks stores. PepsiCo, the second-largest US soft-drink maker, distributes bottled Frappuccino coffee and DoubleShot espresso drinks through a venture with Starbucks. Starbucks operates more than 14,000 stores, 540 of them in China. The coffee chain sells bottled drinks in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan through other distributors.

■ TELECOMS
German firm to buy Orange
Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG said yesterday it has concluded a deal to buy Dutch mobile phone and broadband Internet operator Orange Netherlands from France Telecom for US$1.8 billion. Deutsche Telekom first announced the deal in June, but it did not give the purchase price then. It said yesterday that its T-Mobile Netherlands unit has concluded a contract for the acquisition. Deutsche Telekom said it expects the combination to result in savings of US$1.4 billion over the next few years.
■ JAPAN
Economy OK, minister says
Japan's economic recovery remains on track despite figures released yesterday that showed a jump in the nation's jobless rate and a continued decline in consumer prices, the economy minister said. In good news, the government said industrial production rebounded 3.4 percent last month after declining in July because of plant shutdowns after an earthquake hit north-central Japan, cutting supplies from a major auto parts maker. The jobless rate, meanwhile, rose to 3.8 percent last month from 3.6 percent a month earlier, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.


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