IN BRIEF (Page 14)

Investment

Wanda to buy European cinema operator

Dalian Wanda Group Corp Ltd, one of China's leading property developers and the owner of the country's largest movie theater chain by box office revenue, is in talks to buy a European theater chain, a company spokesman said on April 8.

The move comes several months after the Chinese conglomerate's $2.6 billion (1.99 billion euros) acquisition of the United States' second-largest theater chain, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc, which operates 346 multiplex theaters with more than 5,000 screens in the US and Canada.

Synutra given French factory go-ahead

Synutra International Inc has been given approval from China's commerce authorities to go ahead with a 100-million-euro investment project that will result in the construction of a milk factory in France. Li Ke, the general manager of Synutra, which is based in the city of Qingdao in Shandong province, said construction will start in western Brittany in September with production expected to begin in the first half of 2015. As Synutra's first overseas factory, it will supply cheese products to the European market and ship whey powder to China.

Fonterra plans to sell infant formula in China

Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd, New Zealand's largest milk processor and dairy exporter, plans to launch its branded infant formula in China in the middle of the year and to set up a liquid milk manufacturing plant in the country soon.

The company's aim to expand its business from dairy farming to infant formula and milk manufacturing, which generate higher profit margins, is expected to strongly increase its presence, as well as revenue, in the lucrative Chinese dairy market, analysts said.

Fonterra has already been selling Anmum Materna products, formula for expectant mothers, in some regions in China and online.

Nestle to build coffee center in SW China

Global food giant Nestle plans to build a coffee center in southwest China's Yunnan province, according to an agreement signed on April 2. A memorandum of understanding signed by the municipal government of Pu'er and Nestle, states the Switzerland-based company will spend 100 million yuan ($15.97 million; 12.34 million euros) to build a coffee farming institute, warehouses and a laboratory.

The farming institute, which will be the largest of its kind in China, will provide training to 5,000 coffee farmers, agronomists and business professionals each year, according to an online statement from Nestle.

EcoMotors plans first engine factory in China

EcoMotors International, the fuel-efficient engine maker backed by billionaires Bill Gates and Vinod Khosla, has chosen China as the location for its first factory, which will be built with support from automotive-parts conglomerate Anhui Zhongding Holding Group Co. Zhongding will invest more than $200 million (152.8 million euros) to build the plant in China's Anhui province, EcoMotors said in a statement on April 9.

Michigan-based EcoMotors expects the plant to produce 150,000 engines a year starting in 2014, representing $1 billion (764 million euros) of potential revenue, CEO Don Runkle said. The deal "gives us a toehold in the biggest engine market and fastest-growing engine market in the world", he said.

Christie's to hold sale in Shanghai in autumn

Christie's International will hold a sale in Shanghai in the autumn, making it the first international auction house to hold its own branded events in the Chinese mainland. The London-based company, which has maintained an office in Shanghai since 1994, has been granted a license to operate independently in China, it said on April 9. Details of the inaugural auction will be announced later, it said. Sales of art and antiques in China raised 10.6 billion euros in 2012, making it the world's second-biggest market, according to a report published last month by the European Fine Art Foundation.

Finance

Barclays forecasts China's falling inflation

China's consumer price index dropped from 3.2 percent in February to 2.4 in March, as a result of a post-Spring Festival decline in food prices, particularly of vegetables, pork and eggs, investment bank Barclays said in a research note on April 8. "Non-food price inflation will also stay low, in our view, given a gradual recovery in domestic activity," said Chang Jian, an economist with Barclays. Falling commodity prices and soft activity likely dragged the Producer Price Index lower, as it fell to -1.8 percent in March from -1.6 percent in February.

CIC eyes infrastructure investment in Europe

Eyeing returns in the long term, China's sovereign wealth fund will focus more on infrastructure investment in Europe and the United States, the fund's vice- chairman and president said on April 8. The financial firepower of the China Investment Corporation, which nears $500 billion (382 billion euros), makes it more suited to infrastructure investment, which requires massive funds but offers slower yields, Gao Xiqing said during an interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia in South China's Hainan province.

Gao said Europe, where institutional structures make rapid domestic investment difficult, offers an ideal option for such investment, as governments there have adjusted taxation and regulatory policies to welcome foreign investment in a bid to help steer economies out of the financial crisis.

Technology

Microsoft to launch innovation center

Microsoft is expected to establish an innovation center in South China's Hainan province, the first of its kind on the Chinese mainland, according to an agreement signed between Microsoft and the Hainan provincial government on April 7.

Based on Microsoft's leading technology platform, the Microsoft Innovation Center will attract software enterprises in tourism and agriculture to Hainan, said Li Guoliang, the province's deputy governor. Li said the government hopes to nurture an ecology-related industrial software chain worth 5 billion yuan ($798 million; 617 million euros). Microsoft will also build an academy in Hainan to boost the training of IT experts.

Aviation

Airline signs agreement with NZ

China and New Zealand will deepen bilateral ties in trade, education and tourism, according to an agreement signed in Guangzhou on April 8 between China Southern Airlines and a delegation led by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key. The agreement is the first to be signed by a domestic carrier with an overseas government covering tourism, immigration, education and airport management.

The Guangzhou-based airline is the only domestic carrier flying to New Zealand, following the opening of the Guangzhou-Auckland route in April 2011. Two more new routes are due to be launched soon connecting Guangzhou with Christchurch and Wellington.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 04/12/2013 page14)