Joint venture in Indonesia

Yunnan Tin Co Ltd, China's largest tin producer, said last week it will invest $9.69 million in tin smelting and mining joint ventures in Indonesia.

The company will invest $8.67 million in a $17 million tin smelting venture on Indonesia's Bangka island, in which it will hold 51 percent, the company said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange last week.

KJP Investments (S) Pte Ltd will hold a 48.41 percent stake, and PT Bangka Global Mandiri International will hold the remainder, the statement said.

Tin from Indonesia will support Yunnan's 20,000 ton per year tin refinery in Singapore, the statement said. The plant began operations last June.

Yunnan will also invest $1.02 million for 51 percent of a second $2 million joint venture, which will mine tin and other ores on Bangka.

Machine tool bid

Sany Heavy Industry Co, China's No 1 maker of pumps for concrete, said its parent firm plans to buy 30 percent of Shenyang Machine Tool (Group) Co - a deal that could be worth more than 1 billion yuan.

Sany Corp has forwarded its bid for the stake to the Shanghai United Asset and Equity Exchange, but the deal is still pending due to considerable uncertainty, which was not explained, according to a statement by Sany Heavy Industry to the Shanghai Stock Exchange last week.

Shenyang Machine Tool, the nation's largest machine tool maker based in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, had 49 percent of its stake available for auction at the equity exchange in April. The aim is to attract two to three investors, including one strategic partner, to revamp its corporate structure.

'Digital posters' for elevators

Focus Media, China's largest overseas-listed advertising firm, will digitize its elevator poster network to use on flat-panel TV screens for better effect, it said last week.

The Shanghai-based company will install 10,000 TV screens in high-end residential buildings this year. Nearly half of the screens will replace the posters advertisements in elevators.

"It's a reflection of our customers' needs for a digital and systematic way of marketing," said Focus President Tan Zhi.

The screens developed by its elevator ads unit Framedia cost "several thousand yuan" each. The new technology has cost the company more than 100 million yuan in research, development and production.

Tan calls the screens digital posters as they are meant to display still pictures rather than videos, despite having a sound function. The change will help boost Framedia's sales of ads slots, Tan said, noting the company has already received many orders. He said that charges for ads will not change.

Datang stake transfer

Datang Telecom Technology Co said its parent, which is working with Siemens AG to develop China's own high-speed mobile-phone technology, may transfer a stake in Datang to a newly created unit.

The China Academy of Telecommunication Technology may move shares in the Beijing-based company to a unit the parent established in March to manage its holdings, Datang Telecom said in a statement last week.

The academy owns 36.6 percent in Datang Telecom, the statement said, without revealing how many shares might be transferred, Bloomberg News said.

China needs to improve management of State-owned telephone-equipment makers such as Datang Telecom and Nanjing Panda Electronics Co to make them more competitive with foreign rivals including Ericsson AB and Alcatel-Lucent, said Yang Kai, head of telecommunications research at CCID Consulting Co.

Investment in Vietnam

A Chinese firm has started building a thermoelectricity power plant with a capacity of 600 megawatts in northern Quang Ninh province of Vietnam, local newspaper Saigon Liberation reported last week.

The Chinese firm, Shanghai Electric, started the construction of the plant last Monday in Ha Long city, which has abundant coal resources.

The project is funded by Vietnam's Quang Ninh thermoelectricity joint stock company, which has a capital of nearly 9,326 billion VND ($583 million)

The plant, scheduled to become operational in December 2009, will supply an annual 3.6 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to the country, the newspaper said.

Vietnam's electricity demand is forecast to grow 15 to 16 percent annually until 2010, according to the country's Industry Ministry.

It plans to increase its electricity capacity to 25,000 megawatts in 2010 up from 11,400 megawatts in 2005.

European unit insolvent

TCL Multimedia Technology Holdings Ltd recently declared its European unit TTE Europe SAS insolvent, bringing the Huizhou-based maker of consumer electronics one step closer to shedding its loss-making European operations.

TCL Multimedia, a part of the TCL Group, said in a statement on May 25 that the France-based TTE Europe had failed to come to terms with creditors over outstanding claims despite "extensive" negotiations. The company was unable to repay its debts, and according to French law, it had to file for insolvency.

"(The decision) is a significant step towards (TCL Multimedia's) recovery and turnaround in the future," the company said in a statement. TCL formed a joint venture with the French electronics firm Thomson in 2004 and took over the latter's TV businesses, including its Thomson and RCA brands.

Liquefied natural gas plant

China Gas Holdings Ltd, operator of 61 natural gas projects on the mainland, will build a 1.2 billion yuan liquefied natural gas plant in southwestern China to gain from increased demand for cleaner-burning fuels.

The plant in Dazhou, Sichuan Province, will have annual capacity of 500,000 metric tons, or about 700 million cubic meters of gas, the company said in a statement.

It was the second major gas project the company announced in a week. China Gas said May 23 it has formed a venture with Oman Oil Co to ship fuel to China from the Middle East. The Hong Kong-based company wants to secure supplies as China pursues a target to use gas for 5.3 percent of total energy consumption by 2010, up from about 3 percent now.

(China Daily 06/02/2007 page9)