Shanghai Daily: Business - shanghaidaily.com
CANADA'S non-bank asset-backed commercial paper market will start trading for the first time in four months after a deal was struck between investors holding about C$33 billion (US$33.3 billion) of the short-term debt. The group, led by Toronto lawyer Purdy Crawford, agreed yesterday to swap the commercial paper for longer-term notes, ending a suspension in trading prompted by investor concern about ties to US subprime mortgages. "I am confident that this plan will provide most holders of outstanding commercial paper with the opportunity to receive the full repayment of principal by holding restructured notes to maturity," Crawford said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg News yesterday. The Canadian market for asset-backed commercial paper sold by non-bank dealers ground to a halt in August after Coventree Inc and other trusts failed to renew maturing debt. Banks refused to provide backup financing, freezing the market and putting funds at risk of collapsing, even
Shanghai Daily: Business - shanghaidaily.com
SHANDA Interactive Entertainment, Intel Corp and Sichuan Changhong Electric have established an alliance to develop the market of online games on Web-linked TVs, the three sides said yesterday in Shanghai. The companies launched an online table tennis game, available both on computer and TV platforms, to catch the sport game booms ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games next year. According to the agreements, Shanda will provide content including games, Intel will provide related chip and chipset technology, while Changhong - China's second biggest TV maker - will produce TVs with Internet access and built-in hard disk storage, the companies said. "Shanda is proud to become content provider and the three sides will jointly promote the games including the new table tennis game X-Up," said Tom Zhang, Shanda's senior vice president. The project has similarities to Shanda's previous EZ-Center plan, which allowed users to access Internet and games on TV with a