■ IPO
Google delays offering
Google Inc is delaying its initial public offering (IPO) by a week because of logistical problems related to institutional investors registering to bid on the shares, according to a per-son familiar with the matter. The delay wasn't caused by a technological problem or a lack of bidders, the per-son stressed. Rather, the process of registering bid-ders for the auction-style IPO is taking longer than anticipated, the source said. Part of the problem, the person said, was that the IPO, which is being led by Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse First Boston, is being handled through an auction format that had never been tried before. "It's all new," the person said. "We just hit a speedbump." Officially, Google had never set a date for the deal, though people familiar with the matter had pegged the date for next week. A delay would push the deal later into a month that is traditionally light on IPO volume.
■ Banking
HSBC buys stake in China
British bank HSBC is buying a 19.9 percent stake in one of China's biggest state banks for US$1.7 billion, dramatically expanding the foreign presence in the top ranks of Chinese finance, state television reported yesterday. HSBC signed an agreement yesterday to buy into Shanghai-based Bank of Communications, one of the country's main state-owned commercial banks. The deal is the biggest move yet by a foreign bank into the nation's rapidly evolving banking industry. Beijing has promised to let foreign banks compete on an equal footing with Chinese institu-tions by 2006 under commit-ments to the WTO. It would give HSBC a platform to promote credit cards and other products to China's growing consumer market, possibly giving it an edge over foreign rivals such Citibank and Standard Chartered.
■ Entertainment
Sony BMG launched
Sony Music Entertainment and BMG, the music unit of the German media conglom-erate Bertelsmann AG, said on Thursday they have formally combined their music businesses. Sony BMG Music Entertainment will rival Vivendi's Universal Music Group for market share. Sony BMG will be headquartered in New York. Sony and Bertelsmann each own half of the new com-bined company. The deal did not include the parent companies' music publish-ing, manufacturing or physical distribution busi-nesses. The Federal Trade Commission approved the merger last week. Andrew Lack, Sony Music's former chairman and chief execu-tive, was named chief executive of the new firm.
■ Investment
Merrill Lynch buys stake
Merrill Lynch Securities
has signed a deal with South Korea's LG Card Co to invest US$400 million in the heavily indebted credit card issuer, LG Card said yester-day. "It is true that Merrill Lynch has agreed to buy
all the US$400 million worth of asset-backed securities which we are going to issue in mid-October," a LG Card spokesman said. LG Card said earlier Merrill Lynch would serve as the lead manager in the issuance of the securities which would be backed by LG Card's receivables. Ahn Sung-eun, managing director of Merrill Lynch's Seoul branch office, told Moneytoday, an Inter-net financial news provider, that the firm would buy all the issue. "The reason that Merrill Lynch Securities is investing US$400 million
in LG Card ... is because Merrill Lynch trusts the [South] Korean economy."
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Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
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