Citibank and Bank BNI announced Monday that they had signed a cooperation agreement allowing the former's credit card holders to make payment using the latter's automated teller machines and PhonePlus facility throughout Indonesia -- JP
PT Anta Express Tour & Travel Service, an Indonesian tour and travel company, plans to sell 80 million initial public offering shares from Nov. 30 to Dec. 4, it said Monday. Anta said the par value is Rp 100 rupiah a piece but the company hasn't determined the offer price. It will give two warrants for every IPO share.- Dow Jones
Singapore's United Overseas Bank Ltd. Monday said it's not making a bid for PT Bank Central Asia of Indonesia. UOB's statement came after it declined to comment late last week on Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency's comments Thursday that the Singapore-based bank was among the six new bidders for the government's majority stake in PT Bank Central Asia. - Dow Jones
Automotive giant General Motors has agreed to sell it subsidiary Hughes Electronics, owner of satellite television company DirecTV, to US firm EchoStar for around US$26 billion, the companies announced in a statement late Sunday. GM's board of directors approved the deal after Australian-born media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation withdrew its bid Saturday. -AFP
Japan's Bridgestone Corp. will invest 10 billion yen (US$82 million) to boost domestic production of high-performace tyres for passenger cars, a daily said Monday. This is part of the firm's effort to meet growing demand for high- performance tyres -- 17-inch (43-centimeter) and larger types specially designed to have more surface contact, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. - AFP
British-based Standard Chartered plc said Monday it was setting aside S$100 million (US$55.2 million) over three years to upgrade its Singapore operations. "Primarily it will be used to relocate and renovate the 20 branches," a spokeswoman from the bank told AFP. -- AFP
Isuzu Motors Ltd. will begin importing buses to Japan manufactured by its joint venture in China by the end of March next year as a cost-cutting measure, industry sources said Saturday. Isuzu will be the first Japanese automaker to export vehicles from China to Japan, according to the sources.-Dow Jones