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World Business Quick Take

■ FINANCE

Lone Star head questioned

Lone Star Funds chairman John Grayken is being questioned by South Korean prosecutors as a suspect in a case on whether the US fund bought Korea Exchange Bank at an artificially low price, Yonhap News reported. The investigation will also look into whether Grayken was involved in illegally manipulating the stock price of the South Korean bank's credit card unit in 2003 to acquire it cheaply, the news agency reported, citing Song Hae-eun, a spokesman for the investigation.



■ ELECTRONICS

Toshiba cuts prices in US

Toshiba Corp, the main backer of the HD DVD standard for new video-disc players, has cut prices of its HD DVD players by as much as 50 percent in the US. The new prices follow an announcement two weeks ago by Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros Entertainment that it will stop selling movies with Toshiba's HD DVD format. By the end of May, the studio will only sell high-definition DVDs in Sony Corp's Blu-ray standard. The decision gives Sony a boost in the industry's biggest format war since VHS beat out Betamax in the 1980s. The new prices "are designed to meet the potential demand for HD DVD players in the US market," the US unit of Toshiba said in a statement.



■ ENERGY

Suntech receives boost

Suntech Power Holdings Co (尚德), the world's fourth-largest maker of solar-power modules, is Merrill Lynch & Co's top pick among its Asian peers because of an ability to overcome increased obstacles to raising funds. Merrill has a price target of US$100 for Suntech Power's stock, suggesting a potential 50 percent gain this year, analysts led by Lu Yeung wrote in a report yesterday. New products Suntech Power plans to market should position the company as the "technology differentiator" among other global leaders, the analysts said. The "rising difficulty of financing may squeeze out small vendors," the Merrill analysts wrote. "The ones who could not get investors' attention will face severe challenges in seeking additional funding and will be forced to go out of business in a few years."



■ BANKING

Macquarie hires Rohner

Macquarie Group Ltd, Australia's largest investment bank, appointed Anton Rohner as head of Asia renewable energy to step up its expansion in the US$20 billion market, the company said in a press release. Rohner will report to Andrew Low, Asia head of Macquarie Capital Advisers, and Oliver Yates, an executive director, the release said. Rohner joins from Roaring 40s, a venture between CLP Holdings Ltd, the bigger of Hong Kong's two electricity producers, and Hydro Tasmania, which provides half of Australia's electricity from renewable energy sources.



■ PATENTS

Eco-friendly technology

International Business Machines Corp (IBM), the leading recipient of US patents, is joining Sony Corp, Nokia Oyj and Pitney Bowes Inc in offering the rights to environmentally friendly technologies for free. The effort, called the Eco-Patent Commons, is designed to help companies save energy and water and curb pollution IBM said yesterday in a joint statement with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development in Geneva. The Eco-Patent Commons is the first forum for sharing intellectual property with environmental uses.
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