IN BRIEF

Deals

Alibaba buys back Yahoo stake

Chinese e-commerce provider Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has agreed to repurchase about 20 percent stake in itself from US web portal Yahoo Inc for about $7.1 billion, a move seen as paving the way for an initial public offering.

Yahoo will receive at least $6.3 billion in cash and as much as $800 million in newly issued Alibaba preferred stock, the companies said in a statement.

Alibaba's chairman and chief executive officer Jack Ma said the deal will help the company achieve a balanced ownership structure, although the group has no timetable for its IPO at the moment.

Energy

PetroChina eyes oil assets in Americas

PetroChina Co Ltd, the world's biggest listed oil producer by crude oil output, will focus on storage and refining assets in the Americas this year, as part of its plan to establish three overseas operation centers to facilitate trade, said Jiang Jiemin, chairman of the company.

Two other foreign operation centers, one for Asia, based in Singapore, and one for Europe, based in London, are taking shape.

Jiang said PetroChina's trading and refining joint venture with United Kingdom-based INEOS Group Holdings Plc is expected to sell about 50 million to 60 million metric tons of oil products this year, strengthening its position in Europe.

Economy

World Bank cuts China growth forecast

The World Bank has cut its economic growth forecast for China this year to 8.2 percent from 8.4 percent prevsiouly.

Sluggish demand from the United States and European countries and a softening Chinese property market would combine to weigh on the Chinese economy in the near term, it said. But if governments and central banks act in time to stabilize activity, economies should recover next year.

It said countries could further loosen monetary and fiscal policies to foster activity, but noted their room for maneuver is constrained by inflation risks that could spike when growth rebounds amid rising public debt now.

Finance

SMEs allowed to issue bonds from June

Small and medium- sized companies in China will be permitted to issue bonds through private placements starting next month as part of the measures to broaden financing channels for businesses struggling to raise funds.

The first batch of bonds under a trial program will be introduced in mid-June, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange said in a statement on its website.

Property and finance-related companies will be excluded, it said. China last year curbed lending and raised interest rates to cool inflation and rein in home prices, policies that reduced the availability of financing for small and medium-sized businesses.

Materials

More quotas for rare earths

China, the world's biggest supplier of rare earths, has decided to allow companies that have passed government environmental assessments to export more of the materials.

Some units of Baotou Iron & Steel Group, Aluminum Corp of China and other companies received additional export quotas. But Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth Hi-Tech Co Ltd, another of the units, did not, according to a statement on the commerce ministry's website.

Auto

Nissan aiming for 10% of luxury market

Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co Ltd said it aims to triple global sales of its premium Infiniti brand by 2016 and take 10 percent of China's luxury vehicle market, challenging leaders like Audi AG and Mercedes Benz maker Daimler AG.

Infiniti on May 22 became the first global car brand to open a headquarters in Hong Kong, but it is viewed as a latecomer to China with production there planned to start in 2014. Infiniti currently has about 3 percent of China's luxury vehicle market.

In China, Infiniti sold just 19,000 cars in the last fiscal year ended March, a fraction of the more than 300,000 sold in 2011 by Audi, Volkswagen AG's premium brand.

Technology

IBM smart tech center in Hainan

Technology giant IBM Corp has set up a center in south China's Hainan province to focus on the development of smart information technology, officials and sources with the company said.

IBM will develop cloud computing and the "Internet of Things" technologies in its Hainan center, part of the government's efforts to make Hainan a leader in the country's smart technology drive, officials said.

The "Internet of Things" refers to a wireless network connecting objects ranging from luggage to household appliances by managing the data sent by radio tags on the objects.

China Daily-Agencies