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World Business News Quick Take

■ ENERGY

Jamaica sells sugar firm

Jamaica’s agricultural minister said a Brazilian renewable energy company expects to buy the struggling Sugar Co of Jamaica to boost its ethanol production. Minister Christopher Tufton said Infinity Bio-Energy will take over in September. Jamaica will retain a 25 percent share in the company for three years. Officials did not cite a sale amount. Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding said on Friday that the company’s six factories have lost a total of US$283 million since Jamaica bought them in 1998. Almost 13,000 workers will be let go. It is the second major investment that Infinity Bio-Energy has made in the Caribbean. It agreed last year to spend more than US$200 million to produce ethanol by next year with Dominican Republic’s Bioetanol Boca Chica SA.



■ POWER

SIEPAC nears completion

Central America plans to complete by early 2010 an electric transmission line spanning from Guatemala to Panama that would also connect into Mexico and Colombia, project director Teofilo de la Torre said. “Today we are in the final stretch to complete this beautiful project,” he said on Saturday in Villahermosa, Mexico, at a summit of regional leaders. The system will help lower energy costs for the region, he said. The Electrica de los Paises America Central project, known as SIEPAC, has been in the works for more than a decade. The electric lines will be 1,800km long and require an investment of US$400 million. Mexico will connect to the grid through Guatemala, while Colombia will be connected through Panama, de la Torre said.



■ BANKING

US$35m raised for housing

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC and Finance House PJSC helped Sawaeed Investment LLC and Mountain Gate Property Investment LLC raise 127.8 million dirhams (US$35 million) to build a residential camp for workers. The eight-and-a-half-year project financing uses a combination of Islamic and conventional debt and equity transactions, Finance House said in a statement posted on Dubai-based business Web site Ame Info on Friday, without being more specific. The borrowers’ camp at Mafraq in the United Arab Emirates is expected to provide homes for about 7,000 workers when completed next March, the statement said.



■ EMPLOYMENT

Women 'dislike' tech fields

Women continue to lack enthusiasm for technical fields, whether in academia or the workforce, a new German study showed. The survey by Bitkom, an industrial association, said that half of new university students last fall were female. But women only make up 16 percent of students in fields such as computer science, engineering and electrical engineering. A higher percentage of female students enrolled in civil engineering — 25 percent. Additionally, mathematics courses enjoyed nearly 50 percent female enrollment. The number of women seeking apprenticeships in technological fields actually declined, from 14 percent in 2002 to 9.1 percent last year.



■ MERGERS

Indian companies merge

Subhiksha Trading Services, a food and grocery discount chain, said it bought a majority stake in Blue Green Constructions and Investment. The boards of the two companies planned to meet today to complete the merger, Subhiksha said in a statement. The merged company will be called Subhiksha Ltd and be listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange.
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