■BANKING
Nationalization plan passed
Shareholders of battered German lender Hypo Real Estate Holding AG voted on Tuesday to approve a government plan to nationalize the bank by means of a capital increase. The extraordinary general meeting was the last step in a plan to bring the Munich-based bank under the ownership of the government’s financial sector rescue fund. The government fund secured 47.3 percent of Hypo Real Estate’s shares under a voluntary offer last month. Tuesday’s approval gives it a capital increase to a 90 percent stake, allowing it to squeeze out remaining shareholders.
■INTEREST RATES
Indonesia cuts key rate
Indonesia’s central bank cut its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 7 percent yesterday, seeking to spur spending amid a sharp economic slowdown. It was the seventh month in a row Bank Indonesia cut the lending rate, hoping to counter plunging exports. The rate stood at 9.5 percent in November. The bank said it had concluded from close monitoring of international developments that “ongoing pressure on Indonesia’s exports persist.” Indonesia’s economy was expected to grow between 3 percent and 4 percent this year, down from an earlier forecast of 6 percent, the bank said. That was the same forecast as a month ago.
■INSURANCE
Amlin purchasing Fortis
Amlin PLC, the biggest insurer in the Lloyds of London market, will buy Fortis Corporate Insurance NV for 350 million euros (US$500 million) in its largest acquisition to expand in Europe. The purchase of the Fortis unit, a provider of corporate property and casualty insurance in the Netherlands and Belgium, will lift Amlin’s earnings this year, the London-based company said in a statement yesterday. The insurer said it would raise about £80 million (US$133 million) selling 23.5 million shares to help fund the deal. The Netherlands bought Fortis Corporate Insurance in October, after the parent company ran out of short-term funding as customers withdrew deposits and credit markets froze.
■AUTOMOBILES
Golf run ending in S Africa
The days of the Citi Golf, an almost exact copy of the original Golf I first produced in Germany in the 1970s, are numbered with the Volkswagen subsidiary in South Africa planning to end production next year, Germany’s auto motor sport magazine reported. Quoting the head of Volkswagen South Africa, David Powels, the magazine said the factory needed capacity for the production of the new Jetta and Polo models. The Citi Golf has achieved something of a cult status in South Africa since production first began in 1984 and has continuously remained a good seller.
■MACHINERY
Komatsu to build hybrids
Japan’s top maker of construction machinery Komatsu Ltd said yesterday it plans to start assembling diesel-electric hybrid excavators in China this year. Komatsu — which last year began producing the machines as a test run in Japan — targets sales of 700 units for the current financial year from April, a company spokesman said. “Of these, we aim to sell 500 units in China, by producing them in our subsidiary in the country’s Shandong Province,” he said. A hybrid excavator uses an average of 25 percent less fuel than a conventional diesel-powered model, he said.
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