Dalian Wanda Group Co Ltd is in talks to buy a European theater chain. Provided to China Daily

Investment

Wanda in talks to buy European cinema

Dalian Wanda Group Corp Ltd, one of China's leading property developers and the owner of the country's largest movie theater chain by box office revenue, is in talks to buy a European theater chain, a company spokesman said on April 8.

The move comes several months after the Chinese conglomerate's $2.6 billion acquisition of the United States' second-largest theater chain, AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc, which operates 346 multiplex theaters with more than 5,000 screens in the US and Canada.

Fonterra to sell infant formula in China

Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd, New Zealand's largest milk processor and dairy exporter, plans to launch its branded infant formula in China in the middle of the year and to set up a liquid milk manufacturing plant in the country soon.

The company's aim to expand its business from dairy farming to infant formula and milk manufacturing, which generate higher profit margins, is expected to strongly increase its presence, as well as revenue, in the lucrative Chinese dairy market, analysts said.

Fonterra has already been selling Anmum Materna products, formula for expectant mothers, in some regions in China and online.

Nestle to build coffee center in SW China

Global food giant Nestle plans to build a coffee center in southwest China's Yunnan province, according to an agreement signed on April 2. A memorandum of understanding signed by the municipal government of Pu'er and Nestle, states the Switzerland-based company will spend 100 million yuan ($15.97 million) to build a coffee farming institute, warehouses and a laboratory.

The farming institute, which will be the largest of its kind in China, will provide training to 5,000 coffee farmers, agronomists and business professionals each year, according to an online statement from Nestle.

EcoMotors plans engine factory in China

EcoMotors International, the fuel-efficient engine maker backed by billionaires Bill Gates and Vinod Khosla, has chosen China as the location for its first factory, which will be built with support from automotive-parts conglomerate Anhui Zhongding Holding Group Co. Zhongding will invest more than $200 million to build the plant in China's Anhui province, EcoMotors said in a statement on April 9.

Michigan-based EcoMotors expects the plant to produce 150,000 engines a year starting in 2014, representing $1 billion (764 million euros) of potential revenue, CEO Don Runkle said. The deal "gives us a toehold in the biggest engine market and fastest-growing engine market in the world", he said.

Christie's to hold sale in Shanghai

Christie's International will hold a sale in Shanghai in the autumn, making it the first international auction house to hold its own branded events in the Chinese mainland. The London-based company, which has maintained an office in Shanghai since 1994, has been granted a license to operate independently in China, it said on April 9. Details of the inaugural auction will be announced later, it said. Sales of art and antiques in China raised 10.6 billion euros ($13.7 billion) in 2012, making it the world's second-biggest market, according to a report published last month by the European Fine Art Foundation.

Finance

Barclays forecasts falling inflation

China's consumer price index dropped from 3.2 percent in February to 2.4 in March, as a result of a post-Spring Festival decline in food prices, particularly of vegetables, pork and eggs, investment bank Barclays said in a research note on April 8. "Non-food price inflation will also stay low, in our view, given a gradual recovery in domestic activity," said Chang Jian, an economist with Barclays. Falling commodity prices and soft activity likely dragged the Producer Price Index lower, as it fell to -1.8 percent in March from -1.6 percent in February.

Technology

Microsoft to launch innovation center

Microsoft is expected to establish an innovation center in South China's Hainan province, the first of its kind on the Chinese mainland, according to an agreement signed between Microsoft and the Hainan provincial government on April 7.

Based on Microsoft's leading technology platform, the Microsoft Innovation Center will attract software enterprises in tourism and agriculture to Hainan, said Li Guoliang, the province's deputy governor. Li said the government hopes to nurture an ecology-related industrial software chain worth 5 billion yuan ($798 million; 617 million euros). Microsoft will also build an academy in Hainan to boost the training of IT experts.

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 04/12/2013 page14)