Wed, Jun 08, 2011 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  FINANCE

  Buffett lunch tops US$2m

  Double-dip recession or not, people will still pay any price to have lunch with Warren Buffett. The annual charity auction for lunch with the legendary 80-year-old investor began on Sunday night and by midday on Monday, bids had already topped US$2 million. The six bids placed thus far have come from two anonymous bidders. Last year’s winner paid US$2.63 million for the right to dine with Buffett at the Manhattan steakhouse Smith & Wollensky. The price nearly tripled on the last day, as nine qualified bidders made 77 bids.

  BANKING

  ING online gets two bids

  General Electric Co (GE) and Capital One Financial Corp submitted bids for ING Groep NV’s US online bank last week in a sale that could raise about US$9 billion, people with direct knowledge of the matter said. The Dutch lender may reach an agreement to sell the ING Direct USA unit as soon as this month, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. GE made an all-cash bid, while the offer from McLean, Virginia-based Capital One includes some stock, the people said. “The process to prepare a divestment of ING Direct USA is continuing,” Raymond Vermeulen, a spokesman for Amsterdam-based ING, said by telephone. He declined to comment on any potential bidders or the value.

  AUTOMAKERS

  Losses from India strike rise

  Maruti Suzuki India — India’s largest passenger car maker — has lost an estimated US$20 million since the start of a strike at its factory in the north of the country, a company source said yesterday. The source said production losses since the start of the strike on Saturday were between 800 million and 900 million rupees (US$17.9 million to US$20.1 million). The stoppage has led to a loss in production of about 1,800 cars since the walk-out by a group of workers demanding recognition of a new union. The Japanese-controlled firm on Monday sacked 11 of its 2,000-strong employees on its production line at Manesar in the northern state of Haryana.

  PAPER

  Temple-Inland rejects bid

  Packaging and building materials maker Temple-Inland Inc has rejected a US$3.3 billion unsolicited takeover bid from larger rival International Paper Co, saying the offer is too low and would face heavy regulatory scrutiny. Memphis-based International Paper proposed a bid of US$30.60 per share — or about US$3.3 billion — for all outstanding shares of Austin, Texas-based Temple-Inland. That represents a premium of about 45 percent over Temple-Inland’s closing price of US$21.01 on Monday. Temple-Inland controls about 12 percent of the North American market for corrugated packaging materials. A combined company would control about 40 percent of that market, Temple-Inland said.

  ENERGY

  BP may sell stake to Rosneft

  British energy group BP could sell part of its stake in Russian joint venture TNK-BP to revive an Arctic exploration deal with the Russian state oil company Rosneft, the Wall Street Journal said yesterday. The newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said top BP executives had informed Russian billionaire shareholders in TNK-BP of the plan to sell part of its 50 percent stake to Rosneft. A person close to BP told the paper there had been “no decision to sell any of BP’s shares in TNK-BP.” However, the paper said a formal announcement outlining the plan would be included in a letter that would shortly be sent to shareholders.
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