Business news for Mon, 17 Dec 2007 & with word unit. 26 news.

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.

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

(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 ...

MERRILL Lynch & Co, the securities firm that reported a record US$2.24-billion third-quarter loss, told fixed-income managers to cut 2007 bonuses by an average of 40 percent, according to two people briefed on the matter. Payments may fall by as much as 80 percent for traders who specialize in the mortgage bonds and collateralized debt obligations that posted the steepest losses, said the people, who declined to be named because the decisions aren't public. Bonuses may drop 20 percent for interest-rate traders and 60 percent in the New York-based firm's corporate bond unit, the sources said, according to Bloomberg News. Chief Executive Officer John Thain, who took over from Stan O'Neal on December 1, said he will reward good performers while cutting payouts for people who caused losses. He has to placate investors by trimming wages while making sure the most valuable employees don't leave, said Russ Gerson, head of New York-based recruiting firm Gerson Group. On Wall Street,

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

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

INGERSOLL-RAND Co, the maker of Thermo King refrigerated trucks, has agreed to buy Trane Inc for US$10.1 billion in cash and stock to gain cooling systems for transportation and buildings. Ingersoll-Rand will pay US$36.50 in cash and 0.23 of a share for Trane, the Bermuda-based company said, according to Bloomberg News. That values the New Jersey-based air-conditioner maker's shares at US$47.81 based on Friday's closing price. Ingersoll-Rand will take on US$150 million of debt. Chief Executive Officer Herbert Henkel said the purchase of the air-conditioner maker will create a company with US$17 billion of sales, more than half coming from the heating and cooling business. Ingersoll-Rand this month completed the sale of its Bobcat construction-machinery unit, shifting its focus to refrigeration systems amid rising trade in frozen foods. "The market for transporting food is very strong," Sanjay Jha, a London-based analyst at Pali International, said in an interview.

Bristol-Myers Squibb agreed to sell its medical imaging group to private equity firm Avista Capital Partners for about $525 million.

Interpublic, in the throes of a plan to find greater operating efficiencies among its media operations, just found two: The consolidation of one of its boutique media buying and planning units into a bigger network; and the departure of the top executive of a high profile media negotiating unit in what could be a harbinger of other changes to come. Media First International, an entrepreneurial media shop acquired by Interpublic in 2002, will be folded into Initiative North America, effective Jan. 1, 2008, the same date Bill Cella steps down as chairman-CEO of Interpublic's Magna Global Worldwide unit. Interpublic insiders maintain that both moves were made independent of a new holding company task force created to find and implement operating efficiencies across its media services operations.

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.

Aon agreed to sell its Combined Insurance unit and other subsidiaries to Bermuda-based insurer Ace for $2.4 billion, and in a separate deal, will sell Sterling Life Insurance to Munich Re.

Loews Corporation, the diversified conglomerate, said Monday that its board of directors approved a plan to spin off Lorillard, the cigarette maker, as a separately traded company. James S. Tisch, Loews’ chief executive officer, described the move as part of the company’s “unrelenting focus on long-term value creation.” In October, Loews agreed to sell Bulova, the [...]

The condo slump has put developer Liviu Mihulet in a tight spot. His lender, Northside Community Bank, filed a lawsuit in August to foreclose on a 32-unit condominium conversion the developer launched in January in West Rogers Park. The bank asserted that the property, at 6500 N. Claremont Ave., ...

Loews said it will spin off its interest in cigarette maker Lorillard to holders of its two classes of stock, making Lorillard a publicly traded company.

(Reuters) -- Aon Corp., one of the world's largest insurance brokers, said on Monday it has agreed to sell two units for about $2.75 billion and will use the proceeds to buy back shares. The company said it sold its Combined Insurance Co unit to ACE Ltd. for $2.4 billion in cash and that Munich ...

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- PPG Industries said that it will purchase the bodyshop distribution business of Unipart Automotive. The business will operate as a subsidiary of PPG under the name Brown Brothers Distribution U.K. Financial terms were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close on or about Jan. 31.