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To: Maurice Winn who wrote (40034)	9/8/1999 12:42:00 AM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 152472

Ericsson For Sale? From ericy thread> ERICY largest shareholder would sell for $50. Large Ericsson shareholder says could sell stake STOCKHOLM, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Industrivarden, the largest single shareholder of telecommunications giant Ericsson , is prepared to sell its stake if it gets a good offer, Swedish business daily Dagens Industri said on Saturday. "We act in the best interest of our share owners, and can't take other factors into consideration, even if a sale were very bad for Sweden," Industrivarden AB Chief Executive Claes Reutershiold was quoted by Dagens Industri as saying. "If there is an offer of 400 crowns per share, it would be very difficult for the (Ericsson) board of directors to say no," he was quoted by the daily as saying. Ericsson , the world's third largest mobile phone maker and leading producer of mobile phone infrastructure, saw its shares close up six crowns at 270.50 crowns on Friday. This would give Ericsson a market value of around 530 billion crowns, Dagens Industri said. Reutershiold holds a seat on the board of directors of Ericsson. Industrivarden has a 28.1 percent share of Ericsson's voting rights and 2.4 percent of share capital, while Swedish investment giant Investor AB is the second largest single shareholder of important voting rights, with 22.2 percent of votes and 3.2 percent of capital in Ericsson. Swedish financier Sven Hagstromer, a major shareholder of Industrivarden AB, on Thursday warned that there was a risk that Ericsson could be taken over by a North American giant like Lucent Technologies Inc or Nortel Networks Corp . Ericsson has been hit over the last year by underperforming stocks in comparison to Finnish rival Nokia , falling profits and issuing two profit warnings in the last eight months. In July Ericsson's Chief Executive Sven-Christer Nilsson was fired and replaced by his predecessor with Lars Ramqvist who has temporary taken over the CEO post. Ramqvist has vowed he would have Ericsson back on course by the end of 1999 by speeding up a cost-cutting programme and mobile phones and by improving fiances. infobeat.com Universal Currency Converter™ Results by Xenon Labs Rates as of 1999.09.07 22:02:52 EDT. (Rates updated once per minute) 400.00 SEK Sweden Krona = 49.2151 USD United States Dollars

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (40034)	9/8/1999 1:01:00 AM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 152472

WTO Sounds Like Done Deal> Tuesday September 7, 11:06 pm Eastern Time FOCUS-China says WTO membership up to U.S. By Andrew Browne CANBERRA, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Chinese President Jiang Zemin said on Wednesday he would discuss China's bid to join the WTO at a summit with U.S. President Bill Clinton in New Zealand next week, but insisted the ball was in the U.S. court. China broke off talks with the United States on its quest to join the World Trade Organisation in fury at the U.S. bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in May. But Jiang indicated the political atmosphere had cleared sufficiently to allow agreement, calling Clinton ''my old friend'' and saying he was reluctant to mention the bombing. ''I'm really reluctant to mention what happened on the 8th of May this year,'' Jiang said after talks with Australian Prime Minister John Howard. "The bombing of our embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia killed three of our people and later President Clinton expressed his regret on behalf of the United States. ''At that moment I don't think the timing was appropriate for the WTO negotiations so the talks in this regard were suspended,'' he said. In addition to Clinton's apology, the U.S. has agreed to pay $4.5 million in compensation to familes of the three victims. The two sides still have not resolved the issue of U.S. compensation for damage to the embassy. Jiang put the blame on China's failure to wrap up a WTO agreement on the U.S. Congress, but pointed out that it was now the United States rather than China leading the push to resume talks. ''Since last August we have got messages from the United States on many occasions expressing the American wish to resume the talks in this regard,'' he said. ''President Clinton later wrote me a letter in this regard and I replied to his letter. So now the talks actually have already been resumed,'' he said. On Monday U.S. and Chinese officials began unpublicised meetings in Beijing to review progress made so far in marathon negotiations. ''I have read from some Western reports that China has been very eager to ask for the resumption of the talks on China's membership of the WTO but I don't think that squares with the fact,'' Jiang said. He said Congress had stood in the way of WTO discussions during his visit to the United States in 1997 and a return visit to China last year by Clinton. ''And this year I think the American side missed another good opportunity and that's when Premier Zhu Rongji visited the United States. At that time the agreement could have been reached but again due to reasons from Congress, that's from the American side, the agreement has not been reached,'' he said. Zhu was sent home from Washington empty-handed after offering trade concessions that went well beyond all previous offers. Clinton's rejection of the offer humiliated Zhu and gave valuable time to protectionist opponents of WTO membership in China to rally their forces. U.S. officials have indicated Washington now would be prepared to accept a similar offer, although it is far from clear whether Beijing is ready to put the offer back on the table. Foreign competition through WTO membership is key to Zhu's plans to reform China's ailing state-owned industry. But both Zhu and Jiang have to take into account powerful forces in government ministries who argue that foreign competition will lead to factory closures and job losses. China's WTO entry bid faces a tight deadline. A new round of global trade talks begins in Seattle in November, and will raise the bar to entry even higher.

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (40034)	9/8/1999 1:05:00 AM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

WTO Its Done> Wednesday September 8, 12:48 am Eastern Time FOCUS-Jiang conciliatory ahead of U.S. summit By Andrew Browne CANBERRA, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Declaring U.S. President Bill Clinton ''my old friend'' and saying he was reluctant to mention the embassy bombing, Chinese President Jiang Zemin on Wednesday struck a conciliatory note ahead of a China-U.S. summit. It was the clearest indication yet that China is ready to move beyond the U.S. bombing of its embassy in Belgrade in May and improve ties with Washington, now at their lowest point since diplomatic contacts were established in 1971. Jiang indicated the bombing was no longer an obstacle to concluding an agreement with the United States on Beijing's bid to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO). But he insisted the U.S. Congress was to blame for blocking a WTO deal, and made clear the ball was now in the U.S. court. ''I'm really reluctant to mention what happened on the 8th of May this year,'' Jiang during a state visit to Australia after meeting Prime Minister John Howard. ''The bombing of our embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia killed three of our people and later President Clinton expressed his regret on behalf of the United States,'' he said, without commenting further on the attack. In addition to Clinton's apology, the U.S. has agreed to pay $4.5 million in compensation to families of the three victims. Still unresolved is the issue of U.S. compensation for damage to the embassy, and Chinese compensation for damage to the U.S. mission in Beijing during anti-U.S. protests. On Taiwan, the biggest potential flash-point in China-U.S. relations, Jiang repeated Beijing's complaint that while Washington proclaimed its commitment to a ''One China'' policy it continued to sell arms to the island. ''So the Chinese people find it really hard to understand,'' he said. Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui has infuriated Beijing by proclaiming the island will only deal with China on a ''special state-to-state basis.'' China views Taiwan as a renegade province. Jiang again refused to rule out force against Taiwan, rebuffing Howard who said that during his meeting with Jiang he had ''encouraged all involved to resolve differences without a resort to any military force.'' Jiang said the WTO would feature in his summit with Clinton next week in New Zealand on the fringes of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Auckland. But he appeared to rule out any agreement during the summit itself, saying that ''as for the specifics, I think that will be for our officials to discuss.'' Jiang contrasted the Australian and U.S. approaches to China's WTO accession. ''While Prime Minister Howard is my old friend, China and Australia have already concluded bilateral negotiations on China's accession to the WTO,'' Jiang said. ''President Clinton is also my old friend,'' he said. But he added that since the U.S. Congress was so powerful ''the prospect of the WTO question will be to a large extent dependent on the American side.'' On Monday U.S. and Chinese officials began meetings in Beijing to review progress made so far in marathon negotiations which have spanned 13 years. Jiang said Congress had stood in the way of WTO discussions during his visit to the United States in 1997 and a return visit to China last year by Clinton. ''And this year I think the American side missed another good opportunity and that's when Premier Zhu Rongji visited the United States. At that time the agreement could have been reached but again due to reasons from Congress, that's from the American side, the agreement has not been reached,'' he said. Zhu was sent home from Washington empty-handed after offering trade concessions that went well beyond all previous offers. Clinton's rejection of the offer humiliated Zhu and gave valuable time to protectionist opponents of WTO membership in China to rally their forces.