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World Business Quick Take

■ FINANCE

China issues warning

China's stock regulator has warned companies against "malicious money grabbing," urging them to take investor demand into account when drawing up plans for raising funds through share offerings. The China Securities Regulatory Commission's statement, carried on the front pages of many newspapers yesterday, came after share prices dropped to a seven-month low on Monday amid mounting apprehension over a slew of new share offerings. "Listed companies should consider market conditions, investor sentiment and their own funding needs before deciding the timing and size of refinancing," the commission said.



■ INTERNET

Cable under construction

A group of six international companies, including Google, is building a US$300 million underwater fiber optic cable linking the US and Japan. The trans-Pacific 10,000km broadband cable system called Unity will respond to the expected growth in data and Internet traffic between Asia and the US, the companies said in a statement on Monday. The project is set to be up and running in the first quarter of 2010. Construction begins immediately, according to Unity. The cable will connect Chikura, near Tokyo, with Los Angeles and other US West Coast points, and the system connects to other Asian cable systems via Chikura, the companies said.



■ COMPUTERS

IBM rolls out mainframe

IBM Corp rolled out a new mainframe computer yesterday boasting a 50 percent performance boost and dramatically lower energy costs than its predecessor. The new System z10, with a starting price at about US$1 million, comes as IBM focuses on lowering the price tag for running its storied line of data-crunching workhorses. The Armonk, New York-based company said it designed the new machine to help companies and government agencies that rely on mainframes -- usually for critical data processing such as bank transactions or census statistics crunching -- save money on energy bills and better handle a flood of Internet information.



■ MANUFACTURING

Carlyle eyes glass venture

Carlyle Group, the US private equity company with US$75.6 billion under management, may buy a majority stake in a joint venture between Nippon Sheet Glass Co and Hoya Corp, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. Carlyle is seeking a controlling interest in NH Techno Glass Corp, a venture that makes glass compounds used in liquid-crystal display television panels, the person said, declining to be identified as the parties haven't reached an agreement.



■ FINANCE

Islamic banking growing

Islamic banking and finance, which respects Shariah laws banning usury, is growing fast and will continue to do so, the Moody's Investors Service said yesterday. It said the Islamic finance market had grown 15 percent in each of the past three years, with global volumes at US$97.3 billion by the end of last year. The market has shown no sign of slowing down, reflecting in part the huge revenues the Middle East states are generating from their oil and gas exports, it said. Islamic banking fuses principles of Shariah or Islamic law and modern banking.
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