Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with word commission. 14 news.

Harrah's Entertainment Inc. has tentatively cleared the last remaining regulatory hurdle to the largest casino buyout ever.

BAOSTEEL Group Corp, China's biggest steel maker, will receive 90.1 million shares in New China Life Insurance Co, bringing its total stake in the insurer to 17.3 percent, the insurance industry regulator said. After Shenhua Group Co transfers the stock to Baosteel, it will no longer hold a stake in the insurer, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission said in a statement posted on its Website yesterday. The release didn't elaborate on pricing or other details of the share transfer.

NANYANG Commercial Bank plans to at least double its network on the Chinese mainland in two years, after it opened its local incorporation yesterday to fully tap the mainland market. The bank said in Shanghai yesterday it would offer unlimited yuan services. The Hong Kong-based bank gained the approval to set up the local incorporation with a registered capital of 2.5 billion yuan (US$341 million) from the China Banking Regulatory Commission on December 4. The local incorporation was set up on December 14. Nanyang Commercial Bank has six branches and one sub-branch on the Chinese mainland in cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dalian and Haikou. "Network expansion is a key part of the local incorporation's business development," a bank spokesman said. He said the bank would first focus on major cities in the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta and coastal areas in the geographic expansion. It will also seek opportunities to open outlets in

THE management of a second batch of power generating assets owned by State Grid Corp of China has been transferred to electricity producers, paving way for an eventual sale and making the firm a pure distributor as part of an industry reform. As of Sunday, the power-producing companies are responsible for safety operations and management of eight power plants in which State Grid owned a combined equity generating capacity of 6.47 gigawatts. The State Electricity Regulatory Commission said yesterday this marks the completion of the "main work" in the asset disposal. Other areas still to be done include deal signing, transaction and registration. State Grid, China's dominant power distributor, retained certain generating assets in 2002 during the breakup of the former State Power Corp into five national power producers and two grid operators. It had completed the sale of combined 10.8GW in the first phase of the sale in May to 31 companies, raising 18.7 billion yuan

CATHAY Pacific Airways Ltd said yesterday it had received a formal letter of complaint from European Union regulators investigating allegations of price fixing in the air cargo business. The EU and the United States have been investigating more than a dozen airlines since at least early 2006 to discover if there was collusion in the air cargo industry to fix prices on surcharges for fuel, security and insurance. The European Commission said on Friday it had sent out Statements of Objections to a number of airlines, but did not name them. British Airways, Air France-KLM, and Scandinavian airline operator SAS Group later confirmed they had each received a letter. Cathay said it was reviewing the letter with its legal counsel and would make a "timely response" to the objections. "It is a lengthy and complex document, and only sets out the (regulator's) preliminary findings resulting from its investigation into the air cargo sector of the aviation industry. The

CHINA Unicom Ltd, the smaller of the nation's two mobile-phone operators, rose to the highest in Hong Kong trading in almost a month after a report said the country's top economic planning agency supported a breakup of Unicom. The shares gained 3.6 percent to HK$17.36, their best performance since November 30, at the end of trading yesterday. The National Development and Reform Commission said allowing China's fixed-line carriers to acquire Unicom's mobile networks is the most efficient plan for the industry, the Shanghai Securities News said yesterday, citing a research report by the country's top planning body. China, the world's largest mobile-phone market by users, is expected to reorganize the industry by breaking up Unicom into two operators to be run by the fixed-line companies. China Mobile Ltd controls two-thirds of the nation's wireless subscribers and is adding customers at four times the pace of Unicom. "The government is concerned China Mobile is much too

ALCATEL-LUCENT will pay US$2.5 million to settle charges that it violated US anti-bribery laws by paying for hundreds of trips taken by Chinese officials to secure millions of dollars in contracts. The trips were provided between 2000 and 2003 by Lucent Technologies, prior to its 2006 acquisition by Alcatel SA, according to a US Justice Department statement. Lucent footed the bill for approximately 315 trips for Chinese officials, including sightseeing trips to Las Vegas, Disneyland and the Grand Canyon, the department said. The company paid a US$1-million fine to the Justice Department and US$1.5 million in civil penalties to settle a separate complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The recipients were officials with Chinese state-owned telecommunications companies considered important to securing new business. "Alcatel-Lucent China hasn't further comment on the issue, and we will sustain a healthy and long-term relationship with Chinese government officials

NANYANG Commercial Bank plans to at least double its network on the Chinese mainland in two years after it opened its local incorporation today. Nanyang Commercial Bank (China) Ltd opened in Shanghai yesterday to offer unlimited yuan services to Chinese. The Hong Kong-based bank gained approval to set up the local incorporation with a registered capital of 2.5 billion yuan (US$341 million) from the China Banking Regulatory Commission on December 4. Nanyang Commercial Bank has six branches and one sub-branch on the Chinese mainland in Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dalian, Haikou and Shanghai. "Network expansion is a key part of the local incorporation's business development," the bank said. The bank will first focus on major cities in the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta and the coastal area. It will also seek other opportunities in other areas. The bank will focus on personal financial planning products and services in retail banking. In corporate banking,

Harrah's said the National Indian Gaming Commission approved the proposed acquisition of the nation's largest casino company by private-equity firms Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group.

The Republican chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is disputing Democratic assertions that a new rule loosening restrictions on media ownership is full of loopholes and will lead to a wave of mergers and fewer choices for consumers.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Harrah's Entertainment Inc. said Monday that the National Indian Gaming Commission has given it all necessary regulatory approvals to close the proposed acquisition of the company by affiliates of Apollo Global Manangement and TPG Capital. With no more regulatory clearances required, the deal is expected to close in early 2008.

Switzerland’s banking regulator will investigate how UBS ran up losses in the credit crisis requiring billions of dollars of writedowns, a spokesman for the body was quoted as saying on Sunday. Federal Banking Commission spokesman Alain Bichsel told Swiss weekly Sonntag that the regulator was putting pressure on the world’s biggest wealth manager to overcome the [...]

The Interactive Advertising Bureau weighed in on the Federal Trade Commission's new proposed privacy principles, stating that it endorses the idea of industry self-regulation, but wants to help refine them. IAB also said it would propose its own new privacy principles for the industry early next year.

Japan's Fair Trade Commission, worried about a BHP Billiton takeover of Rio Tinto, has begun talks with counterparts in Europe and Australia about a possible investigation, the Asahi newspaper reported Saturday.