Business briefs

M&As

Focus on domestic consolidation

China, which dominated the world's mining and metal transaction sectors in 2009, will shift its merger and acquisition (M&A) activity into domestic consolidation, with deals reaching an unprecedented level in 2011, according to a report from Ernst & Young released on March 29.

"Government-led domestic consolidation in the coal and steel sectors drove the value of domestic deals up 89 percent to $8 billion (5.68 billion euros) in 2010," said Raymond Ng, Ernst & Young's China Energy leader. "We predict domestic M&As in 2011 in these sectors will materialize at an even faster pace," he said.

Retail

Boss takes control of store rollout

The German fashion house Hugo Boss AG said that it expects the Chinese market and its expanding network of own-brand stores to drive double-digit growth in both sales and earnings this year.

The group, known for its sharp suits, said it expects sales to grow at least 12 percent and underlying earnings to rise at least 15 percent. "We closed 2010 with excellent results and have maintained this dynamic into the new year," chief executive Claus Dietrich Lahrs said on March 29.

Hugo Boss had already published preliminary results in February, showing sales of 1.7 billion euros and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization were 350 million euros.

Tesiro plans broad expansion in China

Tesiro Jewelry Co Ltd will open 80 to 100 stores a year in China in the coming years, aided by investment from Eurostar Diamond Traders NV.

The company operates about 200 stores in China, of which 75 percent of them are wholly owned and the rest are franchises.

The expansion plan aims to explore the market in inland regions, such as Jiangxi, Hubei and Shaanxi provinces.

In 2010, jewelry sales reached 250 billion yuan (27 billion euros) in the domestic market, up 13.6 percent from 220 billion yuan in 2009, and it is expected to reach 300 billion yuan in 2015, according to the Gems & Jewelry Trade Association of China.

E-commerce

Facebook investor funds 360buy.com

Russian Internet investment group Digital Sky Technologies, an investor in social network company Facebook, has joined a group investing hundreds of millions of euros in 360buy.com, China's largest online retailer, the Financial Times reported.

The newspaper said the interest in 360buy underlines the vast opportunity for online commerce in China, one of the largest and fastest-growing Internet markets.

Telecom

Li turns 3G phone unit to profit after 7 years

Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong's richest man, said his high-speed mobile phone business has turned a corner, posting its first profit after losing HK$157 billion (14 billion euros) over seven years, Bloomberg reported.

Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, which has invested an estimated $30 billion in its mobile phone operations in Europe and Australia, said annual net income rose 47 percent to a three-year high of HK$20 billion, beating estimates. Li said the company's phone business will make a "positive contribution" from now on after losses through 2009.

Energy

China comes first in clean energy

China came in first and Germany second in clean-energy investment last year, while the United States fell one spot to third place, Reuters reported, citing a Pew report.

US investment in clean energy totaled $34 billion (24.2 billion euros) last year, the report "Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race" by Pew Charitable Trusts, an independent, nonprofit group. That was up 51 percent from the previous year but below the $54.4 billion invested by China and the $41.2 billion invested by Germany.

China and Germany have minimum clean-energy targets that helped them move ahead, Pew said.

Overall investments in clean energy, excluding research and development funding, in the Group of 20 major economies rose 33 percent last year to $198 billion amid recovery from recession, the report said.

China Daily-Agencies