Business news for Tue, 25 Dec 2007 & with word capital. 30 news.

THE Agricultural Bank of China will launch its long-expected restructuring plan soon, the central bank governor said yesterday. The restructuring plan will be decided soon to elevate the bank into a strong and internationally competitive bank, Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of the People's Bank of China, said yesterday at a financial forum in Beijing. Zhou said China's financial institutions should actively be engaged in the development of the agricultural sector, which is ABC's main focus. He added that the restructuring will start next year. Central Huijin Investment Co, which recently merged with China Investment Corp, will be involved in the restructuring of China Development Bank and ABC, said Lou Jiwei, chairman of the CIC, the country's sovereign wealth fund, at the forum. Deputy Finance Minister Li Yong was reported as saying earlier that one-third of the CIC's US$200 billion start-up capital, or US$66 billion, will be injected into China Development Bank and ABC for

CHINA'S military enterprises are encouraged to conduct group listings and are expected to raise between 50 billion yuan (US$6.75 billion) and 60 billion yuan from public share sales by the end of 2010, a senior official said. The majority of these enterprises will complete their reform to turn into shareholding companies in five years, which paves the way to trade shares publicly, said Wu Fenglai, head of the Reform Department under China's Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense. In his article published yesterday in the China Securities Journal, Wu noted that military enterprises, except wholly state-owned ones, welcome foreign investment. Depending on their influence in national security, the country's military enterprises are divided into wholly state-owned, state-controlled and state-invested. "Most of China's military enterprises are allowed to source funds from the capital market and foreign investors," said Wu. China issued a new

CHINA Investment Corp, the US$200 billion fund that last week invested US$5 billion in Morgan Stanley, has denied it bought a stake in the Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, Bloomberg News reported today. "We didn't buy any stake," Lou Jiwei, chairman of Beijing-based China Investment, said at a press event without elaborating. He also denied buying a stake in China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. The central government is loosening restrictions on overseas investment to counter inflows from a record trade surplus that has driven up local stock and property prices. Investing more money abroad will help cool the world's fastest-growing major economy and diversify risk for China's more than US$1.4 trillion of foreign-exchange reserves, the world's largest. Lou said on November 29 that CIC "wants to be a stabilizing force in the international capital markets." He cited a "recent example" in which a similar fund invested in a financial firm that had

CHINA has 548 incubators, second most in the world after the United States, the Ministry of Science and Technology said yesterday in Beijing. They are considered powerful in breeding innovative start-ups. On its Website, www.most.gov.cn, the ministry reported the incubators had helped to raise 19,896 high-tech companies, with 569 having an annual revenue of more than 100 million yuan (US$13.7 million). In addition, 53 were listed on either domestic or overseas stock exchanges. China borrowed the idea of incubators from the United States. They were expected to create convenient and efficient environments for start-up companies, as well as provide financing, taxation and land-lease incentives. The country's first incubator started in 1987 in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province. Such intermediate agencies, mostly funded by the government, were now spreading throughout the country. They incubated 41,434 fledgling companies, providing 460,000 high-tech jobs such as sophisticated

CHINA Reinsurance Co, the nation's largest reinsurer, is in talks with overseas investors about selling a strategic stake, the regulator said, according to Bloomberg News yesterday. China Re, which said in October it plans to sell shares to the public, may also sell stakes to investors abroad, Li Kemu, vice chairman of China's insurance regulator, said at a central bank conference in Beijing. The former monopoly reinsurer is bolstering capital to compete with overseas rivals including Swiss Reinsurance Co and Munich Re. China Re gave no timetable for an IPO that would offer investors more options to benefit from China's 24 percent growth in premiums in the first nine months of this year. "Many insurance companies now primarily depend on investment gains to drive earnings," Li said, urging insurers to concentrate on their main business. "Chinese insurers must learn to balance investment gains and premium growth. Both these wheels have to be running." China

KAZAKHSTAN is seeking to more than double its stake in the Eni SpA-led Kashagan oil project as compensation for delays and cost overruns. The Central Asian country's government is seeking to raise its stake to 16.8 percent, Dinara Shaimardanova, an aide to Energy Minister Sauat Mynbayev, told Bloomberg News by phone yesterday from the Kazakh capital, Astana. The state now holds 8.3 percent. The government has disputed a second delay to the start of production at Kashagan, the world's biggest oil discovery in 30 years, and an increase in costs that it says have more than doubled the price for developing and running the field to US$136 billion. Kazakhstan and the group of companies led by Eni extended talks on the dispute until January 15 as Exxon Mobil Corp opposes the increase of the Kazakh stake, Shaimardanova said on Monday. Eni, Exxon, Total SA and Royal Dutch Shell Plc all hold 18.5 percent of Kashagan, while ConocoPhillips has 9.3 percent. KazMunaiGaz National Co,

ALLIANCE Group, controlled by oil entrepreneur Musa Bazhaev, and billionaire OAO Polymetal owner Suleiman Kerimov, plans to bid for a stake worth US$622 million in OAO Polyus Gold, Russia's biggest miner of the metal. ZAO KM Invest, the manager of jointly held assets of Mikhail Prokhorov and Vladimir Potanin, is selling the 7.4-percent stake because they plan to pursue investments separately, Bloomberg News reported. Their wrangling has delayed Polyus's plans to spin off its least-developed mining assets. Polyus has dropped 9.5 percent this year in London. "Polyus shares have had a very mediocre year, while gold has risen rapidly," said Yury Vlasov, an analyst with Renaissance Capital in Moscow. "The common feeling is Polyus will start to copy that dynamic." Alliance's ZAO Alliance-Prom unit has sent a letter to KM Invest, Moscow-based Alliance said yesterday in a statement. Nafta Moskva Ltd, Kerimov's holding company, also sent a letter, Anton Averin, head

INVESTOR William Ackman raised his stake in Target Corp, the second-biggest discount chain in the United States, and held talks with management on increasing the stock price. Ackman controls 10 percent of the company, up from 9.6 percent earlier this year, his Pershing Square Capital Management LP said on Monday in a regulatory filing, according to Bloomberg News. Pershing is seeking share repurchases and the sale of Target's credit-card loans, as well as "some kind of real estate transaction," a person familiar with the firm's plans said, declining to elaborate. Target has said it's evaluating whether to sell its US$7 billion credit-card portfolio and will make a decision in the first three months of 2008. Target's shares have declined 18 percent since Ackman amassed his stake in July. Pershing's holdings include stock and options to buy the shares. With swap contracts, Ackman has an "economic" interest in Target of almost 12.6 percent, up from 10.2 percent

Capital Senior Living will pay about $35 million for 32 assisted living facilities owned by The Woodlands-based Hearthstone, a move that would increase the Dallas-based company's residential capacity by about 40 percent, the company announced Wednesday.

United Rentals Inc. agreed to accept a $100 million breakup fee from Cerberus Capital Management LP, ending a six-week battle over whether Cerberus could call off a $4 billion acquisition of the largest US equipment-rental company. United Rentals...

Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain yesterday made his first significant move to address the firm's ongoing subprime woes by accepting a $6.2 billion cash infusion and selling a majority stake in its middle-market lending arm to GE Capital. The bid for...

CHINA Pacific Insurance (Group) Co Ltd shares fell back slightly in afternoon trade on the Shanghai Stock Exchange after this morning's stellar debut. The shares opened at a premium of 70 percent to their IPO price and sold as high as 51.97 yuan (US$7.09) before settling back to finish the day at 48.17 yuan -- 60.57 percent above the issue price of 30 yuan. The company issued one billion A shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, making it the third insurer listed on the Chinese mainland after its larger rivals China Life and Ping An Insurance. China has urged its largest financial firms to sell stock domestically to give mainland investors more choices. The A shares account for 12.99 percent of China Pacific's expanded share capital and the money raised through the domestic listing will be used to replenish capital to help expand the business, its prospectus said. Shenzhen-based Ping An, the nation's second-biggest insurer, raised US$5 billion in February in the world's

Merrill Lynch said it will sell up to $6.2 billion of newly issued common stock at a discount to two investors and divest its middle-market commercial-finance business to a unit of GE as its moves to bolster its capital.

A suicide bomber exploded a car outside a residential complex belonging to a state-run oil company north of Baghdad, killing 22 people, while four were killed in a separate suicide bombing targeting a funeral northeast of the capital. (Complete coverage)

Sheryle Bolton Bridge Capital Holdings The San Jose holding company for Bridge Bank appointed Sheryle Bolton to its board of directors.

China should delay a pilot program allowing mainland citizens to trade stocks in Hong Kong until it opens its capital account, as the city has become a andquot;backdoorandquot; for financial risks, a government researcher said.

GE Capital, the financial unit of General Electric Co., said Monday it will acquire the bulk of Merrill Lynch Capital's operations.

The political party representing the interests of deposed Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Monday it would abolish Thailand's capital controls -- if and when it forms a government.

Roseville-based Solar Power Inc. has raised $11.7 million through a private stock placement that should allow the company to continue the rapid expansion it logged in the last year, chief executive Steve Kircher said Monday.

Outside investors inject cash into Merrill, and holiday sales hopes rise. The Dow gains 98. Stocks rose sharply Monday, boosted by news that another Wall Street firm was getting a multibillion-dollar capital injection and hopes of a stronger-than-expected holiday season for retailers. The Dow Jones industrial average rose nearly 100 points.