Business news for Mon, 17 Dec 2007 & with word million. 74 news.

A federal spending bill being considered by congress would provide Minnesota with $195 million in funding for reconstruction of the I-35W bridge, state officials said Monday.

MINING giant Rio Tinto is set to spend $US300 million ($351.06 million) to develop the Eagle nickel mine in Michigan in the United States.

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 will eliminate export tax rebates on major grains as part of a series of measures to ensure domestic supplies are adequate and to control rising food prices. Tax rebates on wheat, rice, soybeans and corn will be eliminated from December 20, according the Website of the central government yesterday. China's food costs gained 18.2 percent last month, pushing inflation to the highest in 11 years. The government has sold corn and vegetable oil from state reserves and asked local authorities to boost emergency stockpiles to ensure stability, according to Bloomberg News. "This is bearish for local wheat and corn markets as it adds a few million tons to supply," said Zhao Qiang, research manager at Tianqi Futures Co in Harbin. "The effect on global markets will be small as China's exports are limited." China shipped 4.9 million tons of corn and 1.2 million tons of rice overseas in the first 11 months of this year.

INDUSTRIAL Bank Co closed its first collateralized loan obligation yesterday, the biggest in China's securitization market this year, Standard Chartered Plc, which arranged the transaction, said in a statement. The CLO raised 5.24 billion yuan (US$710 million). The senior portion of 4.87 billion yuan was sold to funds in China's interbank bond market while the subordinated portion was kept by the Chinese bank.

D.C. officials yesterday announced an $850 million plan to redevelop the old Washington Convention...

NEW World Department Store China Ltd, a unit of billionaire Cheng Yu-tung's New World Development Co, agreed to buy a department store and real estate from its parent for HK$885.4 million (US$113 million). New World Department Store China will buy Wuhan Department Store and a shopping mall in a complex its parent owns in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei Province, it said in a statement yesterday.

Following up on its vow to raise money by selling its drugs to other companies, PDL BioPharma of Redwood City announced today that a Japanese company has agreed to buy a PDL drug used in bone marrow transplants for $200 million in cash.

PETROCHINA Co, the nation's biggest oil company, will start expanding an ethylene plant in northeast China's Daqing at the end of this month to tap rising chemical demand. The annual capacity of the plant will be doubled to 1.2 million metric tons, the largest in the country, parent China National Petroleum Corp said in its online newsletter China Oil News yesterday. It didn't give an investment figure or the completion date for the project. China plans to more than triple the annual capacity of ethylene to 18.13 million tons by 2010, Bloomberg News reported. PetroChina will raise its ethylene capacity to seven million tons a year by 2010 from 2.63 million tons last year, Liu Jie, deputy chief economic adviser at the firm's chemicals and market unit, said on May 24.

SHANGHAI'S new apartments, excluding budget homes and houses designated for relocated residents, have been sold at an average price of 1.28 million yuan (US$172,970) per unit so far this year, a major real estate research firm disclosed yesterday. The price represents an increase of 11.4 percent compared to 2006. "By December 15, approximately 20.39 million square meters of new homes have been sold in the city with an average price of 10,292 yuan per square meter," said Xue Jianxiong, head of research at Shanghai Youwin Real Estate Information Service Co Ltd, the report compiler. "Last year, 16.77 million square meters of new houses were sold, at an average price of 9,432 yuan per square meter." In terms of unit and space, 163,645 apartments have been sold till mid December, with an average unit space of 124.65 square meters (gross floor area), compared with 137,335 units sold in 2006 with an average GFA of 122.15 square meters, according to Youwin

ASIAN stocks fell the most in four months, led by Samsung Electronics Co and HSBC Holdings Plc, on concern accelerating inflation will limit interest-rate cuts, threatening global growth. Samsung declined the most in three weeks. HSBC and Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd paced losses in Hong Kong, where interest rates track those set by the Federal Reserve, after United States consumer prices rose the most since 2005. Centro Properties Group plummeted 76 percent in Sydney after the owner of US shopping malls said it was struggling to refinance debt. "Sentiment in the region is getting worse," said David Ng, who helps manage US$954 million at Hwang-DBS Asset Management Sdn in Kuala Lumpur. "First we had slowing US growth; now add on inflation fears. That makes for a bad combination." The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 2.9 percent to 152.28 as of 6:49pm in Tokyo, its sharpest decline since August 17, Bloomberg News said. The benchmark is set for its lowest annual gain

ACE Ltd has agreed to buy Combined Insurance Co of America from Aon Corp, the world's second-largest insurance broker, for US$2.4 billion in cash. The purchase of the Illinois-based accident, health, and life insurance unit, which has four million policy holders and almost 7,000 sales agents, will probably close by the end of the second quarter, Ace said yesterday. Aon is also selling Washington-based health-care insurer Sterling Life Insurance Co to Munich Re, the world's second-biggest reinsurer, for US$352 million. "The acquisition of Combined is a significant milestone for Ace and represents both an opportunity for considerable growth and expense-related efficiencies," Ace Chief Executive Officer Evan G. Greenberg said. Ace, the Bermuda-based business insurer, said in October it may make an acquisition to expand its life insurance business, according to Bloomberg News. Greenberg said the company was also planning to expand small-business coverage in Asia and

BRITISH insurance company Norwich Union was fined 1.26 million pounds (US$2.54 million) yesterday for a data-protection failure that allowed criminals to cash dozens of policies held by customers. Fraudsters gained access to the company's databases and cashed 74 policies worth 3.3 million pounds, the Financial Services Authority said. "Norwich Union Life let down its customers by not taking reasonable steps to keep their personal and financial information safe and secure," said Margaret Cole, the enforcement director of the Financial Services Authority. Norwich Union, a unit of Aviva PLC, said all of the canceled policies had been fully reinstated, and 11 people had been arrested on suspicion of carrying out the fraud. Anti-fraud measures have been updated following an independent review of the company's operations, it said. "Whilst the number of customers affected is very small, any breach in customer confidentiality is clearly unacceptable," said Mark

SINOPEC Shanghai Petrochemical Co, a unit controlled by parent China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, said it will offer minority shareholders 3.2 state-owned A shares for every 10 they hold in a revived share reform program. The proposal is the same as the one in October last year, which had been voted down by minority shareholders. Shareholders will vote again on the offer on January 15, Sinopec Shanghai, a key ethylene maker, said in a statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday. China has launched a nationwide program in 2005 to convert nontradable state-owned shares to tradable chips, in line with international practice. Most state companies listed on the Chinese mainland exchanges have completed the process. Typically, listed companies have to give bonus shares to minority shareholders as compensation in such a program because disposing the nontradable shares could dilute share value. The parent, also known as Sinopec, will offer 230.4 million shares worth

GERMANY's Evonik Industries AG has started construction of a 24-million-euro (US$34.6 million) plant for cyanuric chloride in western China to boost local supply. Construction of the plant in Chongqing is set to be completed by the end of 2008, with about 280 employees. The factory will double the firm's cyanuric chloride capacity in China to 60,000 tons. Cyanuric chloride is an intermediate chemical used in agricultural applications and in the textile, paper and plastics industries.

CHINA Eastern Airlines Corp, the nation's third-largest carrier, said it is in talks to buy 40 Boeing Co 737 planes and has applied to the government for 40 Airbus SAS A320s to expand its fleet. The planned purchases may help expand the Shanghai-based carrier's fleet by 53 percent to 322 aircraft in 2010 from the current 210, Zhang Jing, a China Eastern spokeswoman, said yesterday, confirming a Reuters report. Singapore Airlines Ltd and parent Temasek Holdings Pte plan to buy a 24-percent stake in China Eastern for HK$7.16 billion (US$918 million), cutting the carrier's debt and easing its "most difficult" period, Chairman Li Fenghua said last week. The cash infusion may help the company pay for the planes to compete with Air China Ltd, according to Bloomberg News. "Carriers are queuing up to buy planes as demand grows," said Ma Ying, an analyst at Haitong Securities Co in Shanghai. "China Eastern's stake sale will enable it to afford the

SOUTH Korea's largest retailer Lotte Shopping Co plans to acquire a stake in a Chinese discount-store chain to expand its presence on the Chinese mainland, the Seoul-listed company said in a regulatory filing yesterday. Lotte agreed to buy a 49-percent stake in CTA Makro, which now operates five discount stores in Beijing and two in Tianjin, from SHV Holdings NV for 57.6 million euros (US$82.90 million). The Netherlands-based SHV Holdings IV now operates CTA Makro with a 49-percent stake while China Trade Association Property Corp Ltd owns 51 percent. Lotte also plans to open another outlet in Beijing next year, according to the statement. However, the acquisition plan is still awaiting China's regulatory approval. Shanghai Daily's call to CTA Makro yesterday was not answered. The retailer, which controls more than 40 percent of South Korea's department store market and 14 percent of discount stores, is preparing to open new outlets through land purchases and buying existing

CONSUMER confidence is falling, the odds of a recession have risen, analysts predict the worst holiday shopping since 2002 - and retail-industry executives are buying their companies' shares like never before. Limited Brands Inc Chief Executive Officer Leslie Wexner and eight other executives bought a record amount of stock last month after prices fell to a four-year low. Dillard's Inc director Warren Stephens made the biggest insider purchase ever as shares of the Arkansas-based department store chain headed for the steepest decline since at least 1980. Cambiar Investors LLC, Royce & Associates LLC and Becker Capital Management Inc say insider buying foreshadows a rebound. The last four times executives added to their holdings, the Standard & Poor's Supercomposite Retailing Index rose an average 9.9 percent in the next three months, topping a 6.2-percent average rise in the S&P 500 Index. Retail company officials increased their investments by US$346.4 million since the start

SHARES in Shanghai Automotive Co Ltd, the listed unit of China's largest car maker, gained 1.18 percent yesterday after it announced government approval for a proposed issue of 6.3 billion yuan (US$851 million) of convertible bonds. Shanghai Auto, owned by Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp, will sell the six-year bonds, along with detachable warrants to A-share investors, according to its filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday. Shares closed at 25.70 yuan, nearly tripling from the beginning of this year. The 63 million units of bonds will have a face value of 100 yuan each and 3.6 warrants, the company said. Shanghai Auto offers the bonds with a coupon between 0.8 and 1.2 percent, but the final price depends on interest from institutional and retail investors. Bond holders will be allowed to use the warrants to buy Shanghai Auto's shares at 27.43 yuan per share after 24 months. Subscriptions start on Wednesday, and SAIC has said it will buy at least 800 million yuan