Business news for Mon, 17 Dec 2007 & with word plans. 31 news.

STATE energy, telecommunications and tobacco companies will be paying the highest portion of their profit as dividend to the central government from next year, reflecting their monopoly status. Twelve energy firms, including China National Petroleum Corp and State Grid Corp of China, five telecom operators led by China Mobile Communications Corp, and the China National Tobacco Corp are in the first category which has to pay 10 percent of their net profit, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said yesterday. China plans to start collecting dividends from the 150-plus state firms under the central government's direct control starting next year, with the money used to finance the nation's strategic planning and for social security purposes, the State Council, or China's Cabinet, has said. Another 99 large state-owned enterprises directly controlled by the central government, including metal producers and air carriers, which come into the second category,

Rexel, the French electrical equipment distributor, is expected to press ahead with its proposed ?3.1bn ($4.46bn) takeover offer for Dutch rival Hagemeyer

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.

HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest bank by value, aims to start three new funds on the Chinese mainland next year as it taps into the country's rising demand for investment products. "We will see a strong growth and I would be surprised if we didn't see at least US$2 billion of new funds flowing in," Rudolf Apenbrink, chief executive officer of HSBC Investments Hong Kong Ltd, said in an interview with Bloomberg News. HSBC already manages three funds worth US$1.5 billion on the mainland under the joint venture HSBC Jintrust Fund Management Co. It expects to receive regulatory approval for its fourth fund soon and will apply for the qualified domestic institutional investment, or QDII, quota in May, Apenbrink said. Financial companies, including banks, fund managers and insurers, invest abroad using QDII quotas. To cope with managing more funds, HSBC Jintrust plans to recruit as many as 20 new employees next year, Apenbrink said. The company has about 100 employees.

(AdAge.com) -- Media industry big and DraftFCB vice-chairman Bill Cella, who formed the first unit that pooled the clout of big advertisers to get better pricing from media, will depart Interpublic Group of Cos. effective the end of this year, the company said. Where Mr. Cella plans to pursue ...

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

Biffa is set to bin any plans for continued independence, just over a year after it was floated

Chevron Corp. has refused to put more money into a biodiesel plant in Galveston, breaching its contract and forcing the plant's owners to "dramatically" scale back expansion plans, a lawsuit alleges.

President Hugo Chavez's government plans to loosen price controls on some basic foods to help stem shortages of items like milk and cooking oil, the finance minister said this week.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Air France-KLM on Monday said it's made a non-binding offer to acquire all the shares of Alitalia and detailed plans to inject at least 750 million euros ($1.09 billion) of fresh capital into the struggling Italian airline.

Qwest's CEO said the company plans to deploy fiber-optic connections to select areas within 20 markets, but unlike rivals has no plans for an Internet TV service.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Loews Corp on Monday said it plans to spin off its cigarette unit, Lorillard Inc, which makes Newport, Kent and Maverick cigarettes.

Portuguese company Microsoft Lda plans to put its brand name and business up for sale on online auction site eBay with a starting price of $1m, says its chief executive.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Plains Exploration & Production Company on Monday said it would sell oil and gas properties to Occidental Petroleum and XTO Energy for $1.75 billion. The Houston energy firm also set plans to buy back $1 billion in stock and spend $1.15 billion on its 2008 capital budget. "The oil and gas property divestments balance PXP's asset portfolio and align operator strengths to specific assets maximizing efficiencies and returns," PXP Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Flores said in a statement. (An earlier version of this item incorrectly omitted the transaction with XTO Energy.)

I'm really not sure about this, you know? Plans by ministers to wrest key powers from the Bank of England for use during any future crisis in the banking system emerged yesterday amid fresh signs of tensions with the Treasury. Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, is considering reforms that would allow him to take control of all decisions during an emergency such as the one that triggered the run on Northern Rock. Treasury sources confirmed that this would include injecting extra funds into the money markets, traditionally an operational matter for the Bank, as well

Air France-KLM and Air One unveiled details of plans to relaunch Alitalia, pledging to inject fresh capital and renew the aging fleet of Italy's troubled state-controlled airline.

ULSTER BANK plans to open three new branches and business banking offices this week.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Telular Corp. on Monday said Joseph Beatty, its chief financial officer, will become CEO on Jan. 1. Beatty will succeed Michael Boyle, who announced plans to retire in November. Beatty will also continue to serve as chief financial officer until a successor is appointed.

Domino's made its name in pizza delivery by promising delivery within 30 minutes, but a lawsuit caused the chain to abandon that pledge. Now, Domino's plans to rebrand itself around a play on the old slogan.

A researcher says he regrets not resisting when Merck and Schering-Plough told him of plans to alter analysis of a drug trial.