Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with word plan. 27 news.

An investor committee working to fix this country's $33-billion market for non-bank asset-backed commercial paper is "virtually certain" that big Canadian banks will chip in their share of a $14-billion credit facility at the heart of a proposed restructuring deal, but has a backup plan - just in case.

CARPETRIGHT Plc, the UK's largest carpet retailer, dropped to a four-year low in London trading after managers led by Chairman Philip Harris scrapped their 630 million-pound (US$1.2 billion) plan to buy the company. The shares fell as much as 11 percent to 785 pence in London, heading for the lowest close since December 15, 2003. They slid 18 percent on December 21 after the Rainham, England-based company said discussions had ceased, citing deteriorating credit markets. The announcement was made about two minutes before trading ended. Turmoil in the credit markets hampered the executives' ability to secure funding, Harris said. Bloomberg News reported the pace of takeovers worldwide had fallen by about a third since the end of the second quarter, with companies such as Virgin Media Inc and Cadbury Schweppes Plc delaying asset sales amid signs economic growth in countries from the US to Britain is ebbing. "The prospects for the group are undiminished given its market leading

CANADA'S non-bank asset-backed commercial paper market will start trading for the first time in four months after a deal was struck between investors holding about C$33 billion (US$33.3 billion) of the short-term debt. The group, led by Toronto lawyer Purdy Crawford, agreed yesterday to swap the commercial paper for longer-term notes, ending a suspension in trading prompted by investor concern about ties to US subprime mortgages. "I am confident that this plan will provide most holders of outstanding commercial paper with the opportunity to receive the full repayment of principal by holding restructured notes to maturity," Crawford said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg News yesterday. The Canadian market for asset-backed commercial paper sold by non-bank dealers ground to a halt in August after Coventree Inc and other trusts failed to renew maturing debt. Banks refused to provide backup financing, freezing the market and putting funds at risk of collapsing, even

FRENCH cookware producer Groupe SEB has completed a partial tender offer for Zhejiang Supor Cookware Co, China's largest producer of kitchen appliances. The two companies will finish the settlement within this week, Supor said. Under the deal, SEB paid 2.3 billion yuan (US$312 million) to buy a maximum of 49.1 million shares at 47 yuan per share from the public to boost its stake in Supor from 30 percent to 52.74 percent. Seb's investment in Supor, worth a total of 327 million euros (US$469.8 million), will give it access to a sales network across China and localize its production to increase price competitiveness. SEB, which makes Tefal cookware, announced plans to buy 61 percent of Supor last year but the acquisition drew opposition from China's cookware industry amid worries of a monopoly being created. In April, the Ministry of Commerce gave a green light to SEB's plan after a public hearing for more open competition in China's non-strategic industry. Construction on

APPLIANCE maker Sichuan Changhong Electrical Co yesterday bid for a 29.92-percent stake in Huayi Compressor Co to expand its business. The TV company said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday that it would acquire 91.7 million shares from Huayi's parent Huayi Electrical Appliance General Co via an auction. The Jiangxi-based Huayi, which produces compressors for air conditioners and refrigerators, was suspended from trading in the Shenzhen stock market since December 14 when it announced the auction plan. The 91.7 million shares are valued at 956 million yuan (US$129 million) based on its closing share price of 10.42 yuan per share on December 13. Changhong wasn't traded yesterday, and its closing price on Friday was 8.45 yuan. Share price of the Shanghai-listed company has doubled this year. Changhong's net profit in the first nine months of this year totaled 340 million yuan, jumping 39 percent from a year earlier on the booming electronics market.

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

SHANDA Interactive Entertainment, Intel Corp and Sichuan Changhong Electric have established an alliance to develop the market of online games on Web-linked TVs, the three sides said yesterday in Shanghai. The companies launched an online table tennis game, available both on computer and TV platforms, to catch the sport game booms ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games next year. According to the agreements, Shanda will provide content including games, Intel will provide related chip and chipset technology, while Changhong - China's second biggest TV maker - will produce TVs with Internet access and built-in hard disk storage, the companies said. "Shanda is proud to become content provider and the three sides will jointly promote the games including the new table tennis game X-Up," said Tom Zhang, Shanda's senior vice president. The project has similarities to Shanda's previous EZ-Center plan, which allowed users to access Internet and games on TV with a

Movie Gallery Inc. has filed a reorganization plan with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and hopes to complete the process by mid-2008.

(AP) -- CME Group Inc.'s stock slipped Monday after a group of banks and trading firms said they plan to launch their own futures exchange to try to garner cheaper commissions. Late Friday, 12 financial institutions including Merrill Lynch & Co., Citigroup Inc., and Bank of America Corp. ...

Movie Gallery Inc. said it could emerge from bankruptcy in the second quarter under a reorganization plan filed last week.

When Patty Marquez graduated from the University of Minnesota more than five years ago and moved to Southern California, she thought about buying a house.

The New York Racing Association said over the weekend that its creditors approved a plan for emerging from bankruptcy, putting the nonprofit agency one step closer to becoming solvent.

FRENCH cookware producer Groupe SEB has completed a partial tender offer for Zhejiang Supor Cookware Co, China's biggest producer of kitchen appliances. The two companies will settle the deal this week, Supor said. Under the deal, SEB will pay 2.3 billion yuan for a maximum of 49.1 million shares at 47 yuan a share from the public to boost its stake in Supor from 30 percent to 52.74 percent. Seb's investment in Supor, worth a total of 327 million euros, will give it access to a sales network across China and localize its production to increase price competitiveness. SEB, which makes Tefal cookware, announced plans to buy 61 percent of Supor last year but the acquisition drew opposition from China's cookware industry amid worries of a monopoly being created. In April, the Ministry of Commerce gave a green light to SEB's plan after a public hearing for more open competition in China's non-strategic industry. Supor's US$15-million factory in Vietnam, designed to produce 7.9

A Visa Canada gift-giving survey suggests Boxing Day shoppers plan to spend 29 per cent less this year – $233 on average, versus last year's $328, for a total of $1.2 billion.

Two of the nation's largest newspapers--The Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune--plan to raise their newsstand prices in 2008. Although they may help offset losses in the near term, analysts say the newsstand price increases are a band-aid that fails to address the causes of the underlying secular downturn.

Leading US banks have abandoned a joint plan to create a massive fund aimed at easing the global liquidity squeeze.

Ten months into his job as president and CEO, Paul Whelton outlined for Loyola's board last week a five-year plan to spend up to $500 million to extend Loyola's reach in the fast-growing western suburbs, revitalize its medical center in Maywood and build a new research facility to lure big-name faculty.

Irene Rosenfeld has reversed a four-year slide in macaroni and cheese sales at Kraft Foods Inc., a sign that her plan to revitalize mature product lines through innovation is starting to work. Macaroni and cheese, a 100-year-old mainstay and one of the company's most profitable lines, took a hit ...

The Treasury Department's plan to help struggling homeowners by freezing the interest rates on some adjustable-rate mortgages looks like a modest response to the burgeoning subprime crisis.