Business News

US financial firms consider selling shares in Chinese bank

US financial firms consider selling shares in Chinese bank Beijing  - Two major US financial firms are considering selling some of their shares in China's biggest commercial bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), according to reports seen on Thursday.

A joint agreement on Wednesday leaves Goldman Sachs free to sell up to 20 per cent of its stake in ICBC, the Chinese bank said in a statement.

Goldman Sachs holds 4.93 per cent of ICBC's shares, with an estimated value of 7.5 billion dollars.

Clothes retailer H&M reports lower first quarter profits

Clothes retailer H&M reports lower first quarter profits Stockholm  - Swedish clothes retailing company Hennes & Mauritz's (H&M) first quarter pre-tax profits declined 12 per cent, the group said Thursday, citing some effects due to the economic recession.

The group posted a pre-tax profit of 3.55 billion kronor (438 million dollars) for the period December 2008 to February 2009, compared to 4.05 billion kronor for the first quarter in the previous financial year.

Sales, excluding value added tax (VAT), increased 18 per cent to 23.3 billion kronor, the group said.

Mitsubishi to build Boeing wing flaps in Vietnam

Mitsubishi to build Boeing wing flaps in Vietnam Hanoi - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Vietnam will launch an aircraft component assembly factory in Vietnam in June, local media reported Wednesday.

The state-run newspaper Lao Dong quoted Stanley A Deal, Boeing's deputy chairman of Asia-Pacific sales, as saying the factory would produce wing flaps for Boeing 737 aircraft.

The company is a subsidiary of Japan's Mitsubishi corporation.

The 7-million-dollar factory, located 15 kilometres north of Hanoi, has been under construction since January 2008.

Brazil studies loan to Argentina airline

Brazil studies loan to Argentina airlineRio de Janeiro  - Brazil's national development bank mulls a 700-million-dollar loan to Argentina's national carrier Aerolineas Argentinas to finance the acquisition of Brazilian-made planes.

Luciano Coutinho, the president of Brazil's national development bank BNDES said Friday that the country would provide a loan to the Argentinian government.

Aerolineas Argentinas is said to plan buying 26 of Brazil's Embraer 190 passenger planes to replace older Boeing and McDonnell Douglas jets.

Satyam board meets to assess bidders

Satyam board meets to assess biddersHyderabad, Mar. 20 : The Satyam board met on Friday to assess the proposals of the bidders for acquiring up to 51% stake in the embattled IT company, and discuss several other issues.

The Government-appointed company board has received several expressions of interest, including those from engineering major Larsen & Toubro, B K Modi-led Spice Group, software firm Tech Mahindra and iGate, a company official said after the meeting.

The winning bidder can acquire up to 31% stake in the company.

US Congress to vote on 90 per cent tax on bail-out bonuses

US Congress to vote on 90 per cent tax on bail-out bonuses Washington  - Spurred on by public ire over bonuses paid at firms that received government bail-outs, the US Congress Thursday was considering a 90-per-cent tax on executive bonus payments by companies receiving more than 5 billion dollars in federal funds.

The action, which the House of Representatives could vote on later Thursday, comes amidst furor over actions by American International Group (AIG), the world's largest insurance firm whose near failure in September 2008 helped push a teetering US financial system into rapid descent.

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