Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with word management. 18 news.

ASIAN stocks rose for a second day, led by electronics makers, after consumer spending increased more than forecast in the United States, the region's biggest export market. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, maker of iPods for Apple Inc, and Samsung Electronics Co climbed to the highest in more than a week. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index advanced the most in three weeks last Friday after the report on November spending eased concern about recession in the world's biggest economy. "US shares showed firm gains, and we're seeing the influence in shares today (yesterday)," said Kim Jae Dong, who oversees the equivalent of US$8.6 billion at Korea Investment Trust Management Co in Seoul. BHP Billiton Ltd led an increase among miners after metals prices climbed, and a UK regulator set a deadline for a formal takeover bid for Rio Tinto Group. The MSCI Asia Pacific, excluding Japan Index, rose two percent to 524.1 as of 3:38pm in Hong Kong, with all 10 industry groups climbing.

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

VIETNAM widened the daily trading band for the dong, giving the central bank more scope to slow inflation by allowing the currency to strengthen. The dong can now trade 0.75 percent either side of a rate set by State Bank of Vietnam each day, compared with 0.5 percent previously, according to Dao Xuan Tuan, head of foreign-exchange management at the bank's currency department. Vietnam has allowed the currency to strengthen by 1.3 percent since August 20 as consumer-price inflation accelerated to a 10 percent annual pace in November, the fastest in more than three years. The dong is little changed in the year, following an 11-year run of depreciation designed to make the nation's exports more competitive. Vietnam faces "a dilemma with trade deficits growing and inflation picking up," said Masashi Kurabe, head of the foreign-exchange sales & trading group in Hong Kong at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd, part of Japan's largest lender. "The country may be aiming to

A Citigroup analyst left a lump of coal for Och-Ziff Capital Management, the hedge fund that went public last month. The analyst, Prashant Bhatia, began covering the fund with a “hold” rating, writing in his research note that Och-Ziff might be facing headwinds for the forseeable future. For Mr. Bhatia — who acknowledges that his firm [...]

Suddenly, Martin Tobias is out at Imperium while rumors swirl that the IPO is delayed.

William Ackman may have taken a hit with his investment in Target, but it appears he’s raising his bets on the retailer. His Pershing Square Capital Management has boosted its stake to 10 percent from 9.6 percent, the hedge fund said in a regulatory filing Monday. Mr. Ackman, who previously took on McDonald’s and Ceridian, has [...]

Cerberus Capital Management L.P. agreed Monday to pay United Rentals Inc. a $100 million breakup fee for dropping its $4 billion purchase of the equipment-rental company.

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.

United Rentals said on Monday that it will not appeal a Delaware judge’s ruling Friday that Cerberus Capital Management cannot be forced to complete its $4 billion buyout of the rental equipment operator. United Rentals said that it will terminate the deal and ask the private equity firm to pay the $100 million breakup fee stipulated [...]

The latest from the IT giant firm will offer next-generation automated tools such as mobile billing and smart supply chain management.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Equipment rental group United Rentals Inc said on Monday it terminated its $4 billion takeover by Cerberus Capital Management and asked Cerberus to pay it a $100 million termination fee.

Reuters - Equipment rental group United Rentals Inc said on Monday it terminated its $4 billion takeover by Cerberus Capital Management and asked Cerberus to pay it a $100 million termination fee.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - United Rentals Inc. said it's terminating a merger agreement with Cerberus Capital Management's acquisition vehicles RAM Holdings Inc. and RAM Acquisition Corp. The equipment rental company said it's also requesting Cerberus to pay it $100 million in termination fee as part of the original merger agreement.

Hedge funds are scrutinizing their levels of exposure to bank defaults, in a telling reversal of conventional risk management concerns, according to a report in The Financial Times. While bank exposure to the hedge funds they trade with has been in sharp focus since the 1998 collapse of Long Term Capital Management, a run of record-breaking [...]

TWO Wests and Elliott, a specialist manufacturer and supplier of mail order garden hardware and accessories, has been acquired in a management buy-out.

The American Association of Franchisees and Dealers (AAFD) is pleased to announce the appointment of Bob Larking as the Director of Member Development. He is one of the very first members of the AAFD and recently sold his San Diego database management company.

Many business books are heavier on jargon than on wisdom, executives often complain. But among this year's titles are some that can sharpen managers' thinking about technology, management and careers.

SK Telecom said it is reorganizing its corporate structure into four subgroups to achieve management efficiency and better deal with rising uncertainty in the telecommunications market.