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Updated: 2013-05-15 05:30

(China Daily)

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China XD eyes takeover of GE power subsidiary

China XD Group, the State-owned power equipment maker, is in talks to buy General Electric Co's joint venture with Mexico's Xignux SA for as much as $1 billion, said three people with knowledge of the matter. XD Group's discussions to acquire Prolec GE International are at an early stage, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified. GE owns 49.99 percent of Prolec GE, according to a May 2012 statement by XD Group's listed unit China XD Electric Co.

New high-end phones to boost ZTE margins

ZTE Corp's new high-end smartphones will help widen its margins after the company posted losses in two of the last three quarters, according to George Sun, vice-president of corporate strategy at China's second-largest maker of phone equipment. Sun said the company expected "healthy operations at ZTE for the whole year". China has 1.15 billion wireless users, with about a quarter switching to high-speed networks at the end of March, leaving more than 860 million users who could upgrade to smartphones.

Two-day decline halts on stronger fixing

The yuan strengthened on Tuesday, halting a two-day drop, after the central bank boosted the currency's daily fixing amid appreciation pressure from capital inflows. The People's Bank of China raised the reference rate 0.06 percent to 6.2035 per dollar, the first increase in three days. Policymakers have left the benchmark deposit rate at 3 percent since July, while central banks in the US, Japan and the euro area are cutting borrowing costs toward zero. The PBOC started selling bills last week for the first time in 17 months to drain funds from the banking system. It sold 27 billion yuan ($4.4 billion) of the securities on Tuesday

Audi sales in China exceed BMW, Mercedes

Audi posted the fastest pace of sales growth among German luxury marques in China last month after it sold more sport-utility vehicles. Volkswagen AG-owned Audi deliveries rose 13 percent to 38,710 vehicles in the mainland and Hong Kong in April. BMW AG, the world's largest luxury automaker, reported an 11 percent gain to 30,311 units on the mainland, it said on its website. Mercedes-Benz said sales increased 11 percent to 16,241 units on the mainland and Hong Kong. On the mainland, Audi cornered 29.6 percent of the market, BMW had 23.6 percent, while Mercedes-Benz took 20.6 percent in 2012, according to researcher IHS Global Insight.

China boosts emergency oil-storage capacity: IEA

China is likely to commission additional storage sites for its strategic petroleum reserves this year, boosting crude demand even as construction work on the program takes longer than expected, according to the International Energy Agency. The world's second-biggest crude consumer will add 245 million barrels of capacity in the second phase of its emergency stockpile plan, the Paris-based IEA said in its Medium-Term Oil Market Report released on Tuesday, a 45 percent rise on the IEA's original estimate of 169 million barrels.

Autoliv targets 5 percent annual sales gains

Autoliv Inc, the world's largest maker of automotive air bags and seat belts, is targeting annual revenue growth of 5 percent or more in the next five years because of gains in Chinese and US car sales. The supplier plans to at least match global market gains that it forecasts at about 5 percent annually, the Stockholm-based company said on Tuesday.

IBM opens Beijing computing center on Tuesday

International Business Machines Corp opened a center on Tuesday for computing systems in Beijing to help customers and outside software engineers develop business applications for the open-source Linux operating system. The facility will aid the creation of programs for big data, cloud, mobile and social-business computing and represents "a sizable investment", said Colin Parris, general manager of IBM Power Systems. IBM CEO Ginni Rometty is focusing on profitable businesses including data analysis and cloud computing to maintain growth.

Auto dealership returns to decline with competition

Chinese auto dealership returns will decline as automakers add more of them, intensifying competition, Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd said in a report. Foreign automakers are expanding distribution in China's central and western regions and into less-developed cities dominated by domestic brands, while local marques are seeking to attract higher-income buyers with more sophisticated products, according to the Bernstein note distributed on Tuesday.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 05/15/2013 page14)

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