Mon, May 18, 2009 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • AGENCIES
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  ■ENERGY

  China consumption drops

  China’s electricity consumption fell 3.6 percent year on year last month, a larger drop than in March, the latest sign an economic recovery has yet to take hold, state media reported yesterday. The industrial sector consumes about 70 percent of the power in China, according to the report by the Xinhua news agency, and the decline is inconsistent with data indicating industrial activity has been expanding. Power consumption was down 2 percent year on year in March, the report said, citing figures from the China Electricity Council.

  ■AVIATION

  Heathrow awards bridges

  A South Korean consortium has won a US$27 million deal to provide 90 passenger boarding bridges to London’s Heathrow Airport, a report said yesterday. Samsung C&T and Hyundai Rotem of South Korea signed the four-year contract with BAA, the Spanish-owned operator of airports in Britain, Yonhap news agency said, citing the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, which brokered the deal earlier this year. The first batch of 28 passenger boarding bridges worth US$9.5 million would be delivered by the first half of next year, it said. South Korean firms hope to win more deals with BAA, which operates seven airports in Britain and plans to spend billions of dollars on refurbishing them in the next five years, the report said.

  ■BANKING

  Lloyds chief to resign

  Victor Blank will stand down as chairman of Lloyds Banking Group and was to announce his decision as soon as yesterday, the Telegraph newspaper said in an article posted on its Web site on Saturday. “Sir Victor, who has been under mounting pressure from institutional shareholders following Lloyds TSB’s merger with the crisis-hit HBOS last autumn, is expected to say that he will remain at Lloyds for about a year, allowing a successor to be identified,” the newspaper said. A spokesman for the company declined to comment. HBOS was taken over by rival Lloyds TSB in a government-brokered deal in September to save it from collapse after a dramatic slump in its share price.

  ■BANKING

  Commerzbank approves bid

  Commerzbank shareholders on Saturday approved the German government’s acquisition of more than 25 percent of the country’s second-largest bank in connection with state aid, the bank said. The government has injected more than 18 billion euros (US$24 billion) into Commerzbank and its entry into the bank’s capital was adopted almost unanimously, the company said in a statement. A two-thirds vote was required for the 25 percent plus one share stake. The bank would issue 295 million new shares at a price of 6 euros per share, the statement said. The new shares would be acquired by the Financial Market Stabilisation Fund (SoFFin) — the government’s rescue fund — at issue price, the statement said.

  ■AUTOMOTIVE

  Auto union still in talks

  The Canadian Autoworkers union is still in talks with General Motors Corp over cost cuts sought by the besieged automaker, but a number of key issues remain unresolved, the union said on Saturday. A government-imposed midnight deadline on Friday for an agreement to help make the company’s Canadian operations viable passed overnight without a deal. “Our CAW negotiating team continues to work hard to reach an agreement with General Motors,” CAW president Ken Lewenza said in the statement.
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