China Southern Airlines will start flying its Airbus SAS A380 on an overseas route in October. Provided to China Daily

Aviation

China Southern to fly A380 overseas

China Southern Airlines Co Ltd will fly its Airbus SAS A380s on the Guangzhou-Los Angeles route starting October, ending a year-long wait to use the aircraft for overseas services.

The double-decker will replace Boeing Co's 777 aircraft on the route, China's biggest airline by passenger numbers said. The carrier fills about 90 percent of the 777s used in the daily service, it said.

Since taking delivery of the first A380 in October, China Southern has used it on domestic routes only as it awaited regulatory approvals. The carrier has ordered a total of five A380s in an effort to challenge Air China Ltd and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd on international routes.

Finance

Credit rating agency opens HK arm

China Chengxin (Asia Pacific) Credit Ratings Co Ltd, a subsidiary of the credit rating agency China Chengxin Credit Management Co Ltd, opened a Hong Kong business on July 31.

That made it the first rating company from the mainland to obtain an operating license from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.

"This is a milestone in the internationalization of mainland rating institutions," said Mao Zhenhua, the founder and chairman of China Chengxin Credit Management.

The decision, analysts said, aims to give mainland agencies a bigger say in the global financial system as mainland companies gain a greater presence overseas.

Investment

More channels open for foreign investors

More financial channels on the Chinese mainland are being opened for foreign investors in a move to better support stable economic growth.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has agreed to further lower the requirements for market access for qualified foreign institutional investors.

The regulator encouraged long-term investment capital, including foreign pension funds, to be injected into the domestic market by choosing multiple trade brokers.

Investors with qualified institutional investor quotas can also invest in the inter-bank bond market, as well as in privately raised corporate bonds for small and medium-sized enterprises, the commission said.

Private funds injection encouraged

China's government said on July 30 that it would introduce a number of projects to allow private investment in areas dominated by State-owned enterprises.

The announcement, made after an executive meeting of the State Council, said the country must "introduce some projects as soon as possible to allow private investment in the railways, public utilities, energy, telecommunications, financial, health and education industries".

The move comes a week after the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planning agency, and other central ministries imposed 42 new rules to attract private investment and remove barriers.

US outlays head for record

Chinese investment in the United States is expected to hit a record high this year, thanks largely to big-ticket items, says a report from the Rhodium Group, a New York-based organization that analyzes global trends.

Chinese foreign direct investment, or outbound FDI, in the US reached $3.6 billion in the first half of this year, and covered 33 projects, the report said. Investment in the half was a record for any half year from China.

Thilo Hanemann, research director for Rhodium, which monitors Chinese FDI in the US, said the large-scale investments could make 2012 a record year, beating the $5.7 billion record set in 2010.

Auto

30% rise in Lamborghini sales

China's supercar market will grow at between 20 percent and 30 percent a year over the next five to 10 years, says Christian Mastro, general manager in Asia-Pacific for the Italian brand Lamborghini.

Mastro said the current economic slowdown is having an effect on sales of his cars this year, and he said the market is "a little quiet".

But after enjoying a 150 percent surge in sales in 2010, and a 70 percent rise in growth last year, Mastro says the future of his business in China is bright, despite a sluggish economy and vehicle purchase limits in four big Chinese cities.

Internet

Baidu, Sina join hands in mobile project

Baidu Inc is offering its search engine on Sina Corp's mobile Web portal as part of an agreement aimed at attracting more smartphone users in the world's biggest wireless market.

Baidu, China's biggest search engine company, will also install Sina's Weibo micro-blogging service on software for mobile devices, the companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday, without giving a schedule. The alliance covers collaboration on content and data as well, the companies said.

Baidu seeks mobile users for its search services as more surf the Internet on smart phones in China, where mobile ad sales more than doubled to 2.4 billion yuan ($377 million, 306 million euros) last year, according to the research company IResearch.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 08/03/2012 page14)