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World Business Quick Take

■FINANCE

SWF eyes more hedge funds

China Investment Corp (CIC, 中國投資公司), the nation’s US$200 billion sovereign wealth fund, may invest as much as US$500 million in hedge funds, including those run by Blackstone Group LP, two people familiar with the matter said. CIC aims to allocate US$6 billion to hedge funds by the end of this year, company adviser Felix Chee said at the GAIM International hedge fund conference earlier this week at Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum. CIC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley earlier this month by buying an additional US$1.2 billion in shares.



■AUTOMOBILES

Prius orders top forecast

Toyota Motor Corp received orders for 180,000 Prius hybrid cars in Japan in just a month, far surpassing its target of 10,000 vehicles, the automaker said yesterday. The third-generation Prius, which rolled out a month ago, has been a big hit in its home country, partly because of tax breaks and other new government incentives that are meant to stimulate growth during the economic downturn. The Prius was the No. 1 selling vehicle in Japan last momth, clinching the top spot in the domestic market for the first time and overtaking Honda’s new hybrid, the Insight, which fell to third after taking the top spot in April.



■INVESTMENT

KKR may delay IPO

KKR & Co, the private-equity firm run by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, said it was still considering plans to go public, almost two years after first proposing an initial public offering. KKR filed to go public in July 2007, days before the credit crisis began. Less than a year later, the firm dropped the project in favor of a plan to issue new stock to its Amsterdam- listed buyout fund. The shares would have begun trading on the New York Stock Exchange once the deal was completed in December. KKR delayed the plan again in November after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc roiled markets worldwide. KKR may push back the plans still further, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, citing unidentified people familiar with the talks.



■INVESTMENT

Google invests in 23andMe

Google Inc loves 23andMe Inc, a biotechnology startup conceived by co-founder Sergey Brin’s wife. In its latest showing of financial affinity, Google said on Thursday it had invested another US$2.6 million in a company that analyzes people’s DNA to detect potential health problems before they occur. Anne Wojcicki, who married Brin two years ago, started 23andMe while the couple was still dating. Google’s decision to invest in a startup near and dear to Brin hasn’t yet raised complaints about nepotism among the Mountain View-based company’s major shareholders.



■SEMICONDUCTORS

Elpida may seek funding

Elpida Memory Inc, Japan’s biggest maker of memory chips, saw its share price rise 3.3 percent in Tokyo trading after Nikkei English News said the company may apply for funding from the Development Bank of Japan. The company may seek as much as ¥40 billion (US$416 million) by selling up to ¥30 billion in preferred shares and borrowing a maximum of ¥10 billion, Nikkei said. The chipmaker is also in final negotiations with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd and three other lenders to borrow as much as ¥90 billion, Kyodo News reported.


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