Chinese firm buy stake in Daewoo<\/p>\n
SEOUL : South Korea's bankrupt Daewoo Motor Co. said Sunday
\nthat Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. would acquire a 10
\npercent stake in a new Daewoo company to be set up by U.S. giant
\nGeneral Motors Corp (GM).<\/p>\n
The leading Chinese firm will buy the stake for US$59.7
\nmillion, Daewoo said.<\/p>\n
The acquisition means Shanghai Automotive will be the first
\nChinese carmaker to invest in a foreign firm. It holds 50 percent
\nin the Chinese market and runs three joint ventures with General
\nMotors.<\/p>\n
General Motors will own 42.1 percent of the new entity, called
\nGM Daewoo Auto and Technology Co., Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp.
\nwill hold 14.9 percent by, Shanghai Automotive 10 percent while
\ncreditors have 33 percent.<\/p>\n
General Motors agreed in April to take over Daewoo's two
\npassenger car factories in South Korea and overseas units
\nincluding a plant in Vietnam. Daewoo was declared bankrupt two
\nyears ago.<\/p>\n
South Korean creditors have promised to convert 13.15 trillion
\nwon ($10.7 billion) of Daewoo's debt into equity to clear bad
\nassets. --AFP.<\/p>\n
Strikes cripple Fiat plants<\/p>\n
MILAN : Strikes crippled Fiat plants across Italy Friday in
\nprotest of a rescue plan by the country's largest private sector
\nemployer that includes massive layoffs and plant closures.<\/p>\n
Thousands of Fiat workers, angered by the restructuring plan
\nannounced Wednesday, failed to show up for work at the factories
\nof Fiat Auto and at other units, such as metalworking and machine
\ntooling plants.<\/p>\n
Flagship automaking division Fiat Auto, which is an industrial
\nicon but a major drain on the group's resources, is bearing the
\nbrunt of the job reductions.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa, which is
\nowned by the group, Fiat Auto chief executive Boschetti said \"the
\nplan will stay the way it is.\"<\/p>\n
Fiat announced on Wednesday 8,100 job reductions through
\ntemporary layoffs and early retirement. Fiat wants the 7,600
\nlayoffs to be financed by a special long-term unemployment fund
\nto which the government would contribute. -- AFP
\nLucent to cut 10,000 jobs<\/p>\n
NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES : U.S. telecom equipment group Lucent
\nTechnologies announced Friday it would cut 10,000 jobs, or 22
\npercent of its workforce, by 2003.<\/p>\n
The firm -- which had about 45,000 employees at the end of the
\n2002 fiscal year in late September -- said it planned to trim its
\nworkforce to 35,000 by the end of fiscal 2003.<\/p>\n
Lucent said as early as September 13 that it would cut jobs
\nbut did not reveal the size or scope of its restructuring plan.<\/p>\n
The company said it would also announce fourth-quarter losses
\nthat were \"significantly larger\" than the previously announced US
\n45 cents per share. That figure was about three times greater
\nthan what Wall Street analysts had forecast.<\/p>\n
The one-time star of the telecommunications industry has been
\namong the hardest hit by the brutal slump in the sector, amid a
\nspate of canceled orders and failed dot-coms unable to pay their
\ndebts. -- Dow Jones<\/p>\n
EU to approve De Beers strategy<\/p>\n
BRUSSELS : The European Commission is close to approving a new
\ndiamond sales program by South African mining giant De Beers that
\ncould reshape the multibillion-dollar luxury market, a source in
\nBrussels said Friday.<\/p>\n
The office of European antitrust regulator Mario Monti \"should
\nnot find much fault with\" the project given concessions made by
\nDe Beers to its so-called supplier-of-choice strategy, the source
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"The decision should not take long now,\" it added, indirectly
\nconfirming an earlier report in the Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n
De Beers unveiled last year its new strategy, which seeks to
\nincrease its control of the retail market through a codified
\nrelationship with established diamond distributors, known as
\n\"sightholders,\" the Journal said.<\/p>\n
The Commission's antitrust regulators became concerned that De
\nBeers could use the new strategy to restrict distribution of
\nrough diamonds to a select few middlemen and thus limit
\ncompetition, potentially raising retail prices. --AFP<\/p>\n
ZDF forced to make economic cuts<\/p>\n
MAINZ, GERMANY : Germany's second public television channel
\nZDF, hit hard like other German media by falling advertising
\nbudgets, announced an economy package Friday aimed at saving 50
\nmillion euros a year.<\/p>\n
ZDF said after a board meeting that without making the
\neconomies, it risked running up a deficit of some 200 million
\neuros by the end of 2004.<\/p>\n
ZDF chief Markus Schaechter said it should not lead to forced
\nredundancies or sackings. The channel will also look at its
\nprogramming, making more room for news.<\/p>\n
ZDF is Germany's third most popular channel after its public
\nrival ARD and the commercial station RTL.<\/p>\n
Falling income from advertisers and rising costs of newsprint
\nhave already forced a number of prestigious German media
\nconcerns, including the Springer group which publishes the daily
\nBild and Die Welt newspapers, either to raise their cover prices
\nor to cut jobs, or sometimes both. -- AFP<\/p>",
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