Business news for Sun, 16 Dec 2007 & with word venture. 4 news.

THE Baosteel Group, China's largest steel maker, has launched a 19.4-billion-yuan (US$2.6 billion) joint venture with Hansteel Group. The venture, Hangang Hanbao Iron and Steel Co, will be able to produce 4.6 million tons of high grade steel plates annually when the mill is built. Hansteel and Shanghai-based Baosteel has each invested six billion yuan for its registered capital. The plant, based in Handan in north China's Hebei Province, is a win-win strategy for the two steel giants and will help optimize the nation's steel industry structure, said Liu Rujun, chairman of Hansteel Group, at the opening ceremony on Saturday. First-stage construction of the joint venture, including a 3,200-cubic-meter blast furnace, is expected to be finished in the first half of 2008. The venture is expected to be operational at the end of 2010 when all construction is finished. Output of crude steel at Baosteel and Hansteel in 2006 stood at 22.5 million tons and 6.4 million tons,

GROUPE Danone SA faces mounting problems in its dispute with China's Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co after the labor union of its estranged Chinese joint venture partner filed lawsuits against the French firm alleging unlawful competition. The labor union sued the French dairy maker and its two wholly-owned subsidiaries in Weifang, Shandong Province, for investing in competitive companies that allegedly damage the interests of their joint ventures and employees, according to a joint statement issued by H&J Vanguard Consulting Group and Dacheng Law Offices. "The move (to invest in competitive firms) is an obstacle to the development of the joint ventures and it also violates the interests of the labor force," the statement added. The labor union has demanded that Danone pay 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million) compensation for the alleged infringement and withdrawal of all legal procedures by Danone in the most prominent dispute between a Chinese firm and an overseas investor this

Danone has offered a truce in its legal battle with Wahaha Group, its Chinese joint venture partner, in an effort to resolve their long-running dispute

Danone has offered a truce in its legal battle with Wahaha Group, its Chinese joint venture partner, in an effort to resolve their long-running dispute