Business news with words approval+billion+commission. 34 news.

HARRAH'S Entertainment Inc has received final regulatory approval needed to complete the largest casino buyout ever, a year after Apollo Management LP and TPG Inc agreed to the US$17.1 billion purchase. The National Indian Gaming Commission approved the acquisition, removing the last regulatory hurdle to the purchase, Las Vegas-based Harrah's said in a statement. The transaction will be completed in early 2008, the company said. Harrah's, the world's largest casino company, received permission from Illinois, Nevada, Indiana and six other regulators in the states where it operates. The buyout firms agreed in December 2006 to acquire Harrah's for US$90 a share, attracted by its real-estate holdings and ability to generate cash, according to Bloomberg News. Indian approval was needed because Harrah's runs tribal casinos. Founded in 1937 in Reno, Nevada, Harrah's owns the Bally's, Caesars and Flamingo casinos in Las Vegas as part of its holdings, most of which are in the United

Harrah's Entertainment Inc. has tentatively cleared the last remaining regulatory hurdle to the largest casino buyout ever. Harrah's said Monday that the National Indian Gaming Commission has approved the company's $17.7 billion purchase by private equity buyers Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group, pending final commission review. The conditional approval means Harrah's can go forward with the deal, which is expected to close in early 2008. Harrah's and the buyers received the go-ahead for the deal last week from the Nevada Gaming Commission, capping a 10-week campaign to obtain approvals from state gambling regulators in eight states, including Iowa and Missouri. Indian Gaming Commission approval is needed because Harrah's operates several tribal casinos as well. Harrah's used to manage a casino north of Topeka before the Prairie Band Potawatomi tribe took over operations in July. Harrah's, which had nearly $10 billion in revenue last year, operates more than 50 casinos including Caesars Palace and the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas and Bally's in Atlantic City.

NANYANG Commercial Bank plans to at least double its network on the Chinese mainland in two years, after it opened its local incorporation yesterday to fully tap the mainland market. The bank said in Shanghai yesterday it would offer unlimited yuan services. The Hong Kong-based bank gained the approval to set up the local incorporation with a registered capital of 2.5 billion yuan (US$341 million) from the China Banking Regulatory Commission on December 4. The local incorporation was set up on December 14. Nanyang Commercial Bank has six branches and one sub-branch on the Chinese mainland in cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dalian and Haikou. "Network expansion is a key part of the local incorporation's business development," a bank spokesman said. He said the bank would first focus on major cities in the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta and coastal areas in the geographic expansion. It will also seek opportunities to open outlets in

NANYANG Commercial Bank plans to at least double its network on the Chinese mainland in two years after it opened its local incorporation today. Nanyang Commercial Bank (China) Ltd opened in Shanghai yesterday to offer unlimited yuan services to Chinese. The Hong Kong-based bank gained approval to set up the local incorporation with a registered capital of 2.5 billion yuan (US$341 million) from the China Banking Regulatory Commission on December 4. Nanyang Commercial Bank has six branches and one sub-branch on the Chinese mainland in Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dalian, Haikou and Shanghai. "Network expansion is a key part of the local incorporation's business development," the bank said. The bank will first focus on major cities in the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta and the coastal area. It will also seek other opportunities in other areas. The bank will focus on personal financial planning products and services in retail banking. In corporate banking,

WITH US antitrust clearance for its DoubleClick purchase, Google's focus now turns to European regulators, who are expected to be more critical of the top search engine linking up with a market leader in online advertising. The proposed US$3.1-billion transaction, which is strongly opposed by privacy advocates, cannot be completed without approval from the European Commission, whose review deadline is April 2. The Federal Trade Commission said that the deal would not significantly lessen competition in the online advertising market, rebuffing complaints from Microsoft Corp and AT&T Inc that it would give Google a dominant position. "The FTC's strong support sends a clear message - this acquisition poses no risk to competition and will benefit consumers," Eric Schmidt, Google Inc's chief executive, said. "We hope that the European Commission will soon reach the same conclusion." The European Commission declined to comment on the FTC's decision, spokesman

After an eight-month investigation, the Federal Trade Commission gave the green light to Google's $3.1 billion acquisition of Web ad firm DoubleClick. The proposed merger still needs the approval of European regulators, who have until April 2 to...

The FTC's decision brings the search giant one step closer to closing the $3.1 billion deal, but it still must face scrutiny from the European Commission.

TIANJIN Port Co, operator of the busiest port in northern China, says it has received "conditional" regulatory approval for a private share placement to buy assets worth 4.1 billion yuan (US$556 million) from its parent. In May it said it planned to issue up to 226 million new A shares at 18.17 yuan each to acquire berths and the container handling business from its state-owned parent, Tianjin Port (Group) Co. China Securities Regulatory Commission gave approval for the deal on Friday with some conditions, Tianjin Port said in a brief statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, without elaborating. Formal approval is expected later, it said. After the announcement, Tianjin Port rose 2.56 percent to 24.88 yuan yesterday when its shares resumed trading after a suspension on Friday. The Shanghai Composite Index was down 2.62 percent. The deal would reduce business overlap between Tianjin Port and its parent and the amount of connected transactions, as well as improve the

CHINA has started building an 80,000-ton press forge in Deyang, in southwestern Sichuan Province, paving the way for making large planes, a longtime dream of the nation. The project, with an investment of 1.517 billion yuan (US$204.7 million), has won the approval of the National Development and Reform Commission and is expected to be the world's largest when it is finished in two and a half years, said Zeng Xiangdong, project director and vice general manager of China National Erzhong Group Co yesterday.

THE British government's bailout of Northern Rock PLC was cleared by the European Union yesterday as British officials played down a report that the struggling mortgage lender could be nationalized. The approval from the European Commission for the state aid that kept Northern Rock afloat after it fell victim to the global credit crisis — estimated by analysts to be as much as 29 billion pounds, or $58.8 billion — has likely boosted the prospect of a deal being reached with a private buyer. The government's Treasury department and Northern Rock managers have been engaged in talks for several weeks with potential purchasers. A consortium led by Richard Branson's Virgin Group has been picked as a preferred bidder, but other bidders, including US private equity firms J.C. Flowers and Cerberus and British investment group Olivant, remain in the running. "All options are on the table, but we are trying to find a private buyer," Prime Minister Gordon Brown told

PING An Insurance (Group) Co has received regulatory approval to invest as much as 15 percent of total assets overseas, the insurer said yesterday. The Shenzhen-based insurer has won approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission to invest in Hong Kong's stock market and major stake investment projects, Ping An said yesterday in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Ping An reported 441.8 billion yuan (US$59.7 billion) of total assets at the end of last year. The 15-percent cap means Ping An can invest up to 66.27 billion yuan overseas. The regulator last month allowed Ping An to begin buying Hong Kong stocks with up to five percent of its assets in the previous year. China has allowed 20 insurers to invest overseas, mainly in the Hong Kong stock market, under the qualified domestic institutional investors scheme, the top insurance regulator said earlier. The Hang Seng Index rose 0.77 percent to 28,879.59 yesterday. China introduced the QDII program last year

China Pacific Insurance Group, which is part-owned by the Carlyle Group and Prudential Financial, has received approval to sell a billion new shares in a Shanghai offering to bolster its finances and compete with domestic rivals. The listing committee of China’s securities watchdog agency approved the share sale yesterday, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said on its Web site. China Pacific also plans to sell as many as 900 million shares in a Hong Kong public offering “as soon as possible” after the mainland initial public offering. The two offerings are expected to raise as much as $6 billion.

INDUSTRIAL and Commercial Bank of China today in Tianjin opened the country's first leasing firm wholly owned by a domestic bank. ICBC Financial Leasing Ltd, registered in Binhai District in Tianjin with a capital of two billion yuan (US$271 million), will offer aircraft and ship financing services, said Yang Kaisheng, director of the country's biggest lender. The bank signed cooperation agreements with China National Aviation Holding Company, COSCO Group, Hainan Airlines and a Canadian company at the opening ceremony. The commission has also given approval to Minsheng Bank, China Merchants Bank, Bank of Communications and China Construction Bank to enter the leasing business. The leasing business may help reduce strong demand for ships and planes as the country's economy continues to grow quickly. Over the past 10 years, China's demand for planes has doubled while about 90 percent of the financing for plane leases on the mainland are provided by foreign companies. The

THE Chinese joint venture of GMAC, the financing unit of General Motors Corp, has gotten the go-ahead to be the first non-banker in China to issue asset-backed securities, the banking regulator said yesterday. GMAC-SAIC Automotive Finance will sell a pool of auto loans worth 1.995 billion yuan (US$270 million) through Fortune Trust on the interbank bond market before the end of the year, Zhang Xiaojun, deputy general manager and chief finance officer of GMAC-SAIC Automotive Finance, told Shanghai Daily yesterday. GMAC-SAIC Automotive Finance is a joint venture between GMAC, Shanghai Automotive Industry Group Finance Co and Shanghai GM. The company filed its application earlier this year to the People's Bank of China and the China Banking Regulatory Commission. The CBRC, the country's banking industry regulator, gave the green light, the Shanghai Bureau of the CBRC said yesterday. The company is now awaiting the central bank's approval, which is expected before the year's end.

XI'AN Aircraft International Corp said today it had gained regulatory approval to issue shares to buy assets from its parent, taking a lead among domestic military industrial firms to conduct group listings. The green light came just two weeks after China unveiled new guidelines to encourage military-related companies to go public as a whole group and attract investments from listed firms and foreigners. Xi'an Aircraft said it had received the approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to conduct a private placement with as many as 10 investors, according to an exchange filing. The Shenzhen-listed aircraft maker had proposed to collect up to 6.6 billion yuan (US$890 million) selling shares at no lower than 9.18 yuan apiece. Its parent Xi'an Aircraft Industry (Group) Co will take at least 55 percent of the offering. Xi'an Aircraft Industry (Group) has planned to inject assets of civil aircraft manufacturing, research and development as well as services into the listed

CHINA Shipping Container Lines Co, Asia's second-largest cargo-box carrier, won approval yesterday for a Shanghai share sale valued at as much as US$1.9 billion as it seeks funds to buy more ships. The shipping line will sell as many as 2.34 billion shares, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said yesterday. The potential value of the sale was calculated based on the HK$6.35 price of the company's Hong Kong-listed stock.

COLUMBIA University's US$6 billion expansion plan in Harlem may win approval from a New York City panel next week, five years after the school began an effort to double in size. The city's Planning Commission is scheduled to vote on Monday on the school's rezoning request, which has aroused opposition from some residents and business owners. Columbia wants to transform 17 acres north of its existing campus in New York City with academic buildings, research labs and dormitories. Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut; Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island; and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia all are pursuing major expansions, largely for research labs to attract federal money, professors and prestige. As Columbia seeks city approval, the commission will also rule on a competing plan by a community board that says the school would wipe out blue-collar jobs and homes. "Columbia ultimately will get

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Chinese securities regulators Friday approved China Shipping Container Line Co.'s plan for an initial public offering of yuan-denominated shares in Shanghai, according to reports. CSCL, a unit of state-owned China Shipping (Group) Co., may sell as many as 2.4 billion shares, according to wire reports which cited a statement on China Securities Regulatory Commission's Website Friday. The share sale could be worth as much as 14.72 billion yuan, based on the Friday closing price of CSCL's Hong Kong shares. CSCL, Asia's second largest container shipping line, said earlier it plans to spend about 8.8 billion yuan of the funds on the purchase of 16 container ships and 2 billion yuan on container handling and other port equipment. Shares of CSCL fell 6.6% to HK$6.35 in Hong Kong trading Friday.

The European Commission said the $3.1 billion merger raised competition concerns and required a more thorough review of its impact on the Internet advertising business.

CHINA Railway Group Ltd, the nation's largest construction company, won approval from the listing committee of the China Securities Regulatory Commission for a Shanghai public offering, the regulator said in a statement yesterday. China Railway may raise as much as US$4 billion in the Shanghai initial public offering and a subsequent Hong Kong share sale, two people familiar with the plan said last week, according to Bloomberg News. The Beijing-based company, which built the world's highest railroad, may sell a combined 40-percent stake in Shanghai and Hong Kong, according to a preliminary share sale document posted on the commission's Website last week. It plans to sell no more than 4.68 billion new yuan-denominated A shares in Shanghai, the preliminary document said. China Railway also plans to sell no more than 3.82 billion so-called H shares in Hong Kong, including shares it may allocate to meet excess demand and help stabilize the share price, the preliminary document said.