Tue, Jul 20, 2010 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • AGENCIES
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  ■ENERGY

  GDF Suez in merger talks

  French energy giant GDF Suez said yesterday it had renewed talks for a possible merger with its British competitor International Power after a first offer failed earlier this year. GDF Suez announced in a statement “that it is in preliminary discussions with International Power regarding a possible combination of International Power and GDF Suez Energy International Business Areas [outside Europe] and certain assets in the UK and Turkey.” International Power, which has interests in 45 power stations around the world and owns six power plants in Britain, also announced the preliminary talks in a separate statement in London. If the discussions are successful, they would lead to the creation of an enlarged International Energy group, which would remain on the London stock exchange, and in which GDF Suez would be the major shareholder, both companies said.

  ■REAL ESTATE

  Beijing apartments too dear

  A typical Beijing apartment costs about 22 times average incomes in the city, the China Daily said yesterday, highlighting the challenge China faces in providing affordable housing amid a property boom. A 90m² apartment in Beijing cost 1.6 million yuan (US$236,000) last year, the China Daily said, citing an independent report. That compared with an average household disposable income of about 71,000 yuan last year, according to city figures. The report was completed by the Beijing University of Technology and the Social Science Academic Press. It said the building of low-cost, government-subsidized housing had failed to meet demand and called on policymakers to increase the supply of land for such projects. Property prices last month fell 0.1 percent from the previous month, their first monthly fall since the first quarter of last year, according to official data.

  ■TELECOMS

  Reliance shares skyrocket

  Shares of India’s Reliance Communications rose nearly 4 percent yesterday on a report by the Financial Times that Abu Dhabi’s Etisalat was close to buying a 26 percent stake in the firm for US$3 billion. Reliance, the country’s second-biggest mobile phone firm, led by billionaire Anil Ambani, is looking for an investor to help raise cash to reduce its debt and upgrade its network. Reliance Communications shares rose to the day’s high of 194.45 rupees yesterday, up 3.92 percent. They have risen more than 40 percent in the past two months on speculation about interest by an overseas investor in the company.

  ■BANKING

  Levies could benefit Asia

  The head of Germany’s biggest bank, Josef Ackermann, said yesterday in an interview that growing Asian competition could benefit from proposed European and US bank levies. “The relative importance of Asia will even increase” as a result of regulatory moves against banks in the West, Ackermann told the Wall Street Journal. “Asian countries would be well advised not to copy levies which are so popular in many other parts of the world,” he said. Governments in Europe and the US are set to impose bank levies to help pay for the heavy cost of financial sector bailouts. Many in Asia are planning meanwhile to establish major financial centers to take on the established Western banking powers, Ackermann said. “A lot of governments are determined, including the Chinese, to build up financial hubs at a time when other countries are more skeptical about the financial sector,” he said.
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