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World Business Quick Take

■AUTOMOTIVE

LG to supply Volkswagen

LG Electronics Inc, South Korea’s second-biggest electronics maker, signed an agreement for US$370 million to supply car audio systems to Volkswagen AG for seven years from 2012. LG will supply the systems to Volkswagen’s three brands in Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic, the Seoul-based company said in a statement yesterday. The deal is a result of the collaboration between LG and Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest automaker, since 2007 in automobile audio systems, LG said.



■AUTO PARTS

SK Energy to make batteries

SK Energy Co, South Korea’s biggest oil refiner, will supply car batteries to Daimler AG’s Japanese unit Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp. SK Energy was selected to supply lithium-ion batteries for Mitsubishi Fuso’s gasoline-electric vehicles on Saturday, the Seoul-based company said yesterday in an e-mailed statement, without providing financial details. The agreement “would enable SK Energy to participate in various hybrid and electric vehicles projects of Daimler as a preferred supplier,” the company said in the statement.



■BANKING

Beijing bank plans IPO

Agricultural Bank of China (中國農業銀行), the nation’s fourth-biggest lender by assets, is planning a public share sale as soon as possible, bank president Zhang Yun (張雲) said at a financial forum in Shanghai. “Agricultural Bank of China is actively preparing for an IPO and will try to achieve an IPO as early as possible,” Zhang said yesterday. The Beijing-based bank in May raised 50 billion yuan (US$7.3 billion) in the nation’s biggest corporate bond sale to boost capital and help pave the way for an initial public offering.



■REAL ESTATE

HK watches for bubble

Hong Kong’s government will “closely” monitor the local property market and will introduce measures to ensure its stability if necessary. “The government noted that the relatively small number of residential flats completed and the record prices attained in certain transactions this year have caused concern about the supply of flats, difficulty in purchasing a home and the possibility of a property bubble,” a statement on the government’s Web site said yesterday. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority tightened down-payment requirements for luxury homes on Friday for the first time since 1991 to curtail property speculation after record-low interest rates fueled a surge in prices this year.



■SHIPPING

DP World to lease building

DP World Ltd, the Middle East’s biggest port operator, signed an agreement to purchase a long-term lease on its office building in the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai with group company Economic Zones World FZE. The transaction value “has not been disclosed due to its non-material nature,” the Dubai government-­controlled port company said in a statement to NASDAQ Dubai yesterday.



■RAILWAYS

Union votes for strike

South Korean railway workers have voted to strike to press for higher wages and better working conditions, company officials and union leaders said yesterday. The 24,600-strong union of Korea Railway Corp, the country’s railway monopoly, said 76.58 percent of 23,344 voting members were in favor of the industrial action at the vote that ended on Friday.


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