Repost: Business In Asia Today 01/14/98
PR Newswire - January 14, 1998 06:21
%FIN V%PRN P%PRN
Sydney, Jan. 14 /PRNewsire/ -- The following summary
of business in Asia was prepared by Asia Pulse,the
real-time, Asia-based wire with exclusive news, market
intelligence and business opportunities:
$US3.2BLN REFINERY PROJECT IN EAST JAVA POSTPONED
JAKARTA - Bambang Trihatmodjo, businessman son of President
Soeharto, and his associates have postponed the first private
sector refinery project they planned in Situbondo, East Java,
as a joint venture with Daelim Engineering Construction of
South Korea. Bambang Riyadi Soegomo, commissioner of the
joint-venture company PT Asia Pacific Refinery Petroleum
Indonesia (APRI), said the temporary postponement of the
$US3.2 billion project was caused by the prolonged economic
crisis.
JAPAN'S KOYO GROUP TO ABSORB YAMAICHI-AFFILIATED BROKERAGE
TOKYO - The Koyo Group has decided to purchase Naigai
Securities Co., an affiliate of failed Yamaichi Securities
Co., by January 31, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported in its
Wednesday morning edition. Naigai will be merged with Kobe
Securities Co., a unit of the Tokyo-based commodities futures
trading group, as early as this spring. Yamaichi will transfer
its 46% interest in Naigai to Koyo, which will purchase
additional shares from others. Naigai will be the surviving
company in the deal.
CHINA, IMF TO HOLD TALKS ON LIMITING SPREAD OF ASIAN CRISIS
BEIJING - China will hold discussions with the
International Monetary Fund aimed at keeping Asia's financial
crisis from spreading to the country, government officials
have announced. IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus will
soon visit China for talks with Dai Xianglong, governor of the
People's Bank of China, and other senior officials of China's
financial authorities, the officials said.
HYUNDAI SECURITIES PLANS $US135.86 MLN SHARE ISSUE
SEOUL - South Korea's Hyundai Securities Co. plans to issue
new shares worth 200 billion won (US$135.86 million) in
February in an offer to existing shareholders, according to a
company spokesman Wednesday. If the issuance of the fresh
shares is realized, the brokerage firm's paid-in capital will
rise to 329.36 billion won, making it the country's largest
brokerage firm in capital size. The firm's capital increase
aims to both develop itself as a local leader in investment
banking and raise its competitiveness in the face of a foreign
onslaught on the local market, a Hyundai official said.
ASIAN CRISIS COULD CAUSE RECESSION IN AUSTRALIA
CANBERRA - Australia could be heading for a recession by
the year 2000 because of the impact the Asian currency crisis
could have on the local economy, according to an independent
forecaster. The National Institute of Economic and Industry
Research has painted a gloomy outlook, saying Australia is
almost certain to plunge into recession by 2000 with higher
interest rates and unemployment brought on by the region's
economic woes. There was little the nation could do to avoid
being dragged down by the turmoil, which has already helped
push the Australian dollar down to 63 cents on the back of low
commodity price fears, the forecaster said.
MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC TO CUT OVERSEAS CHIP, TV OPERATIONS
TOKYO - As part of a plan to sharply cut back on its
overseas operations, Mitsubishi Electric Corp. will withdraw
from microchip production in the U.S. and close television
plants in the U.S. and Singapore, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun
Wednesday edition reports. The move is designed to help revamp
the company's increasingly unprofitable semiconductor and
consumer electronics businesses. The cost of the
restructuring, coupled with falling chip prices, is expected
to expand consolidated net losses for the year through March
1998 to 40-50 billion yen, compared with an earlier projection
of 10 billion yen.
PAKISTAN APPROVES CONSTRUCTION OF KOHALA HYDRO PROJECT
ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Prime Minster Nawaz Sharif has
approved the construction of a 500 MW hydroelectric power
project at Kohala and assured all possible assistance for the
development of Azad Kashmir. The prime minister while talking
to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Sultan Mahmood,
who called on him at the PM Secretariat here, said the federal
government would also extend financial support for the
development of tourism in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
HYUNDAI MOTOR LAUNCHES SANTRO SMALL CAR IN INDIA
NEW DELHI - Hyundai Motor Company has launched its Santro
car in India to take on the competition in the booming small
car market. Priced at about Rs 300,000 (about US$7,690), the
1000cc Santro - an upgraded version of the Atos model - will
be produced exclusively at Hyundai's factory in Chennai and
would hit the roads by October 1998, Hyundai Motor Company
Chairman Mong Gyu Chung said here. Chung said Hyundai expects
to produce 3,000 cars per month to start with and the Indian
company would be the sourcing point for Santro globally.
VIETNAMESE PM APPROVES MEKONG DELTA DEVELOPMENT PLAN
HANOI - A master plan to develop the Mekong delta from now
to the year 2010 has received the Prime Minister's approval.
Under the plan, the Mekong delta region, which includes the 12
provinces of Long An, Tien Giang, Dong Thap, Vinh Long, Tra
Vinh, Can Tho, Soc Trang, Ben Tre, An Giang, Kien Giang, Bac
Lieu, and Ca Mau, will be developed to become Vietnam's
biggest agricultural and aquatic production area, meeting
export and domestic demand for food and foodstuffs.
PHILIPPINES' PRIMO ADDS $US15 MLN TO PLANT UPGRADE COSTS
MANILA - Primo Oleochemical Inc. will add an additional
$US15 million to its original budget of $US80 million towards
modernizing its plant facilities. The Board of Investments
(BOI) said the firm's infusion of additional equity was
pledged by its multilateral and bilateral development bank
shareholders including the Asian Development Bank, Asian
Finance & Investment Corp., Commonwealth Development Corp.
Prudential Asset Management Asia Ltd. and Mitsui & Co.
Each day Asia Pulse creates up to 250 items of news,
business opportunities, expert commentary and industry
profiles. Asia Pulse is a unique joint venture involving
the resources of Asia's major news and information groups:
(AAP) - AAP Information Services Pty Ltd (Australia)
(ANTARA) - LKBN ANTARA (Indonesia)
(Bernama) - Bernama (Malaysia)
(Nikkei) - Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc (Japan)
(ONA) - Oman News Agency (Oman)
(PNA) - Philippines News Agency (Philippines)
(PTI) - The Press Trust of India Ltd (India)
(Yonhap) - Yonhap News Agency (Korea)
(VNA) - Vietnam News Agency (Vietnam)
(XIC) - Xinhua Information Centre (China)
SOURCE: Asia Pulse Pte Ltd.
/CONTACT: Asia Pulse Production Centre, in Sydney Australia,
612-9322-8634 or email, www.apulse.com/
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