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World Business Quick Take

■ENERGY

GDF buys stake in Santos

French energy giant GDF Suez has bought a 60 percent stake in Australian offshore gas fields held by Australian firm Santos for US$200 million, GDF Suez said yesterday. GDF Suez will also lead a joint venture with Santos to develop a floating plant to turn gas from the Petrel, Tern and Frigate fields into liquefied natural gas (LNG) with an initial capacity of 2 million tonnes a year, it said. The fields will increase GDF Suez’s reserves by around 20 percent, it said.



■ENERGY

Essar bids for refineries

Indian conglomerate Essar has made a bid to buy one British and two German refineries from Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, the Financial Times reported yesterday, without citing its source. Energy-to-telecoms group Essar has bid for the British-based Stanlow refinery in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, and two German refineries, the daily business newspaper said. It said US company Valero Energy, Libya’s National Oil Corp and an investment vehicle controlled by the Saudi royal family had also expressed interest. A Shell spokesman declined to comment.



■AVIATION

Australia sues Emirates

Australia yesterday took legal action against airline Emirates for alleged cargo industry price-fixing, extending a campaign that has netted several carriers and tens of millions of dollars in fines. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said the Dubai carrier had colluded with other airlines to fix cargo and other rates, adding that it was seeking financial penalties. Emirates rebutted the accusations and said it would defend its position in court. The hearing is scheduled for Sept. 11 in Sydney.



■GERMANY

Investor confidence up

Investor confidence bounded higher this month, the closely watched ZEW index showed yesterday, less than a week after data showed Europe’s biggest economy was emerging from recession sooner than expected. The ZEW index, based on a survey of institutional investors and analysts, rose 16.6 points to reach 56.1 points. Last Thursday, data from the federal statistics office showed German GDP growing 0.3 percent in the second quarter of the year from the previous quarter, the first time the economy expanded in more than a year.



■TELECOMS

Tycoon loses PCCW appeal

A Hong Kong tycoon suffered another setback yesterday in his effort to buy out the city’s major telecommunications company after a court blocked him from appealing. A group led by chairman Richard Li (李澤楷) attempted to take the company, PCCW (電訊盈科), private for about US$2 billion earlier this year. But Li and his allies were forced to bow out of the controversial deal after a court sided with the local securities watchdog, which said the shareholder vote approving the buyout appeared to have been rigged. Li sought to appeal the lower-court ruling, but his request was denied by the Court of Appeal.



■AUTOMOBILES

GM inks deal over SAAB

General Motors (GM) said yesterday it had signed a binding agreement with Swedish sports carmaker Koenigsegg over the sale of SAAB Automobile. The US auto giant signed a tentative agreement to sell SAAB to Koenigsegg on June 16. GM said it expected the transaction to be completed by the end of the year.
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