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World Business Quick Take

■AUTOMOBILES

Porsche head avoids crisis

Porsche boss Wendelin Wiedeking has managed to steer clear of the immediate fallout of the global financial crisis, telling a German newspaper yesterday he has avoided investing in shares. “I’ve never had any shares” the CEO of the iconic German sports car manufacturer was quoted as saying in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Instead Wiedeking said he preferred to invest into real estate, start-up companies, and even restaurants. He said he had just realized one of his dreams by buying a cafe in the North-Rhine Westphalia region. “The cafe is doing very well, I can recommend it to everyone: good food, good beer and reasonable prices,” Wiedeking said.



■REAL ESTATE

Amlak, Tamweel to merge

The two largest property financiers in the booming Gulf emirate of Dubai — Amlak Finance PJSC and Tamweel PJSC — announced on Saturday that they have opened merger talks. The two firms said they had the blessing of Dubai emir Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who is also vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in a statement carried by the official WAM news agency. Tamweel chairman Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed bin Saqer al-Nahayan said that the major shareholders — Emaar Properties for Amlak Finance, and Dubai Islamic Bank and Dubai World for Tamweel — were “fully supportive of the merger discussions.” Amlak Finance chairman Nasser bin Hassan al-Sheikh, who is also director general of the Dubai finance department, said the merged firm would have a combined balance sheet of more than 27 billion UAE dirhams (US$7.35 billion).



■SEMICONDUCTORS

Chip exports plunge

South Korea, the world’s top memory chip producer, suffered a drop in semiconductor exports for a third straight month last month amid a market glut and a slow US economy, data showed yesterday. Statistics from the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, disclosed by Yonhap news agency, showed semiconductor exports plunged 9.9 percent year-on-year to US$2.96 billion last month, a consecutive fall since July. Semiconductors account for a quarter of the country’s exports of information technology goods, such as mobile handsets and flat TV or computer display screens, the ministry says. Market research firm iSuppli Corp warned in a statement online on Saturday that memory chip makers, reeling from a major downturn in business conditions, face difficulty in securing capital due to the US credit crunch. It said some memory chip suppliers could face serious liquidity issues in the near future.



■ECONOMICS

Japan mulls stimulus plans

Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said the government might form economic packages in addition to the current stimulus plan being suggested. Liberal Democratic Party officials are urging lawmakers to approve ¥1.8 trillion (US$17 billion) of additional spending to help small companies cope with high oil and food prices before parliament is dissolved. Opposition and ruling party lawmakers haven’t agreed on a timetable to debate the legislation. Nakagawa hasn’t forgotten a promise of balancing the budget by fiscal 2011, he said yesterday on Asahi Television’s Sunday Project. Former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi set a goal in 2006 of balancing the primary budget, which excludes interest payments, so Japan could start to cut debt that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates is about 180 percent of the economy.




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