Asian financial news

Asian financial news

SINGAPORE (AFP): Agence France-Presse has signed a joint
venture agreement with three major media groups to launch a
specialized economic and financial news service in Asia, AFP
chairman and chief executive Lionel Fleury announced yesterday.

Shareholders with AFP in the new company, AFX-ASIA, are
Britain's Financial Times group, the Japanese group Nikkei, owner
of the Nihon Keizai daily, and the Australian Associated Press
(AAP) news agency. AFP-Extel News, a joint subsidiary of AFP and
Extel Financial created four years ago in London, has also take a
direct participation in the new venture.

"AFP thus confirms the major interest it has in specialized
economic news, as demonstrated by its launch of AFX-News four
years ago," said Fleury.

The new company, with headquarters in Singapore, will set up
13 bureaus throughout Asia and employ 35 economic journalists. It
will also have access to news published by each of its partners.

The new service is expected to start in the second quarter of
1995.