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usiness in Asia -- July 8, 2005GMI
SYDNEY, Australia, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- A round-up of Asian stock markets prepared by Asia Pulse (http://www.asiapulse.com), the real-time, Asia-based wire with exclusive news, commecial intelligence and business opportunities. ADVERTISEMENT MANKAPUR - French telecom giant Alcatel will invest up to US$596.8 million in India over the next four years, in manufacturing, research and development and allied activities. Alcatel will take headcount in its research and development facilities here to 2,000 by early next year, up from the present 750 engineers working on new technologies. India is set to emerge as a major research and development base for Alcatel, which has 16,000 engineers worldwide engaged in developing new technologies for the world market. SINGAPORE'S CAPITALAND INVESTS IN 15 MORE CHINESE RETAIL MALLS SINGAPORE - Eyeing China's lucrative retail market, CapitaRetail China Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CapitaLand Limited, has signed a US$403 million agreement that will see it take a major stake in 15 Wal-Mart-backed retail malls in China. The deal was forged with China's SZITIC Commercial Property and Shenzhen SZITIC Commercial Investment. CapitaRetail China will take a 65% stake in 15 retail malls which are under development and which are to be anchored by the Wal-Mart chain of Supercenters in various parts of China. SZITIC Commercial will hold the remaining 35% stake. YAMAHA MOTORS TO INVEST US$91.7 MLN IN INDIA NEW DELHI - Yamaha Motors said it would be investing up to US$91.7 million in India and has plans for setting up a third plant and a foray into the scooter market. Yamaha Motor India, which has seen its sales slide over the last few years, has been in a restructuring mode. The firm is aiming to double market share to ten% by 2008, eyeing sales of about 800,000 units in the next 3-4 years. The company plans to increase capacity between its existing two plants by about 150,000 units to 500,000 units in the next two years. NESTLE TO INVEST US$371 MLN IN PAKISTAN TO 2014 KARACHI - Nestle Pakistan, a subsidiary of Nestle S.A. Switzerland, has planned to invest US$371 million up to the year 2014 under a long-term investment plan. The company will invest US$209 million for a five-year period under a short-term plan. Nestle Pakistan managing director Roland Decorvet said US$70 million would be invested in increasing capacity of milk powder production by 40,000 tons per year, while UHT milk production would be boosted by 300,000 tons a year. LAFARGE TO BUILD US$90 MLN CEMENT PLANT IN INDONESIA'S ACEH JAKARTA - In welcome news for the post-tsunami economic recovery of Aceh, French cement giant the Lafarge Group has announced a plan to build a US$90 million new cement factory in Aceh, North Sumatra. The new factory will replace its old factory which was destroyed by the tsunami of December 26, 2004. The new plant, expected to be operational by mid-2007, will be equipped with state-of-the-art technological standards and will have an annual capacity of 1.6 million tons. HONDA ELESYS TO SUPPLY AUTOPARTS TO 1 MLN GM CARS TOKYO - Honda Elesys Co., the autoparts subsidiary of Honda Motor Co. (TSE:7267 - News) has received a large volume order of 600,000 cars' worth of autoparts from US-based General Motors Corp. Honda Elesys plans to manufacture GM's order this fiscal year at its factory in the U.S. state of Georgia, its first overseas facility. Sales of these parts, covering airbag and seat belt warning systems for five GM car models, will likely come to 5 billion yen (US$44.5 million). In two years, sales to GM are expected to grow to 1 million cars' worth of parts, or 8 billion yen. DAIHATSU TO INVEST $52.6 MLN TO EXPAND CAPACITY IN INDONESIA JAKARTA - PT Astra Daihatsu Motor (ADM) will invest US$52.6 million to increase its capacity from 110,000 to 140,000 cars in 2006. The capacity expansion will create 700 new jobs to add to the 4,600 workers it currently employs, and indirectly will create 3,500 new jobs including those needed by vendors, sales agents and other related businesses, ADM President Noertjahyo Darmadji said. ADM yesterday became the fourth car maker in the country to break the one million mark in production. SINGAPORE'S ASL SHIPYARD AWARDED NEW CONTRACTS WORTH US$35 MLN SINGAPORE - ASL Shipyard Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of ASL Marine Holdings (SGX:A04), has secured S$60.3 million (US$35.45 million) worth of additional shipbuilding deals from various European clients. The deal will see the company, build seven new vessels including two offshore emergency response and rescue vessels and five azimuth stern drive tugs. The projects are slated for completion by June 30, 2007. Subsequent to 31 December 2004, the group has secured a total of S$160.6 million worth of new contracts. ABB WINS US$10 MLN IN CONTRACTS FROM CHINA'S JIANGSU PROVINCE BEIJING - Leading power and automation provider ABB has won contracts worth US$10.27 million from East China's Jiangsu Province. The group's subsidiary, ABB Huadian High-Voltage Switchgear (Xiamen) Co Ltd, will supply 110 kilovolt gas-insulated switchgears (GIS) apparatus to six substations in Suzhou, Wuxi and Xuzhou. Jiangsu Province has seen rapid economic growth over the last 15 years, making it one of the most power-thirsty provinces in China. It has stepped up its efforts in power supply to ease power shortages, and with a 500 kilovolt grid as its backbone, possesses one of the largest grids in China. BURGER KING PLANS MAJOR PUSH INTO CHINESE MAINLAND BEIJING - Following in the footsteps of its rivals McDonald's and KFC, US fast food major Burger King plans to open 10 outlets within the next 12 months in the east China region, according to its chairman and CEO Greg Brenneman. The company's first outlet in China opened in Shanghai's Jing'an District on June 27. Burger King, which already has outlets in Hong Kong and Taiwan, has 11,000 outlets in 65 countries. Insiders says Burger King has a lot of work to do in the years ahead if it is to catch up with McDonald's and KFC. Asia Pulse Pte Ltd. Each day Asia Pulse creates up to 300 items of news, business opportunities, expert commentary and industry profiles. Asia Pulse is a unique joint venture involving the resources of Asia's major news and information groups: (AAP) - AAP Information Services Pty Ltd (Australia)
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