World Business Quick Take

■ FINANCE

Greenspan joins hedge fund

Former US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan is joining the hedge fund Paulson & Co as an adviser, the New York-based company said on Tuesday. Headed by John Paulson, the company said in a statement that the contract was exclusive, barring Greenspan from advising any other investment fund. Greenspan in recent months has signed similar agreements with Pacific Investment Management Corp, a bond specialist, and with the German banking giant Deutsche Bank.



■ AUTOMOBILES

Ex-Mitsubishi chief guilty

A former Mitsubishi president was convicted of professional negligence yesterday in a fatal head-on crash that followed a systematic cover-up of auto defects at the Japanese automaker. Former Mitsubishi Motors Corp president Katsuhiko Kawasoe was sentenced to three years in prison suspended for five years, a Yokohama District Court official said on customary condition of anonymity. The suspended sentence means he won't have to serve time. Kawasoe and three other company officials were suspected of failing to report defects although they knew the problems could cause serious accidents. They were charged in 2004 with professional negligence resulting in death in a 2002 accident in southwestern Japan in which a driver died in a crash after the brakes failed on his Mitsubishi vehicle.



■ MORTGAGES

UK lender rejects proposal

Shareholders Northern Rock, the ailing British mortgage lender, voted at a special meeting on Tuesday against proposals by two hedge funds that would have forced managers to seek shareholder approval for even small asset sales. The vote was a setback for the fund companies RAB Capital and SRM Global Advisers, two of Northern Rock's largest shareholders, which had hoped to obtain greater influence in the bank's future and keep it from selling assets at "knockdown fire sale prices."



■ INVESTMENTS

PRC sets up Africa fund

A Beijing-backed equity fund that aims to boost Sino-African ties has signed a first batch of investment deals worth more than US$90 million, the China Securities Journal said yesterday. The China Africa Development Fund would invest a total of US$4 billion in Sinosteel and three other Chinese companies with projects in Africa, the report said. They include a glass plant in Ethiopia with an annual production of 40,000 tonnes, a 200,000kw gas-fired power plant in Ghana, a chromite project in Zimbabwe and a building material project, it said. The fund was launched in June and had received US$1 billion from the China Development Bank.



■ METALS

Rio Tinto has record output

Anglo-Australian giant Rio Tinto said yesterday its iron ore output last year hit a record 179 million tonnes, up 9 percent on the previous year. The world's third-largest mining company, currently fighting off a takeover bid by rival BHP Billiton, said the increase in iron ore production reflected strong demand from major customers. The company said in its fourth-quarter production report it also saw strong demand in other commodities and expects its iron ore output to increase further this year as new capacity comes on stream.