Indocement sells Citra Marga stake

Indocement sells Citra Marga stake

JAKARTA: PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa, Indonesia's second
largest cement producer, said Thursday it has sold its 8.8
percent stake in toll-road operator PT Citra Marga Nusaphala.

It sold the stake to Hong Kong investment company Parallax
Venture Partner VIII. Ltd. for around Rp 58.8 billion, Indocement
said in a statement.

The sale is part of the company's plan to focus on the cement
business. The company currently has interests in coal mining and
property, which it plans to spin off as well.

German's Heidelberger Zement AG owns a 61.70 percent stake in
Indocement, and the Indonesian government holds a 16.87 percent
stake.

PT Mekar Perkasa, which is owned by the Salim Group, holds a
13.47 percent stake, Japan's Marubeni Corp. controls 1.90
percent, and public investors hold 6.06 percent.--Dow Jones

Nissan to build cars in China

BEIJING: Japanese auto giant Nissan is to invest 8.55 billion
yuan (US$1.03 billion) in an equal joint venture with China's
Dongfeng to build vehicles in China, the firms announced in
Beijing Thursday.

The new company, Donfeng Motor Co. Ltd., will begin production
in 2003 with a planned annual capacity of 900,000 units within a
decade, the companies said in a joint statement.

The firm will make cars, buses and lorries with sales of
550,000 a year expected by 2006, the statement added. --AFP

Toyota to shift Hino plants

TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it will move
production of certain vehicles made by subsidiary Hino Motors
Ltd. to developing regions from Japan by 2004 to boost
competitiveness.

The move comes as an increasing number of Japanese firms move
operations to other Asian countries where assembly costs are much
lower.

Under the scheme, annual production of pickup trucks and
multipurpose vehicles at a Toyota plant in Thailand will surge
five-fold to 200,000 units, half of which will be earmarked for
exports.

It will also lift diesel engine production there to 240,000
units per year from 150,000, with most of them to be exported.

In Indonesia, Toyota will boost output of multipurpose
vehicles to 70,000 units from 60,000 and also raise gasoline
engine production to 180,000 units, 130,000 of which will be
shipped abroad. -- AFP

Brunei launches securities market

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: The International Brunei Exchange, or
IBX, will launch with single stock futures contracts based on
blue chips such as Singapore Telecom, Taiwan Semiconductor
Manufacturing and General Electric Co. of the U.S.

IBX Chief Executive B.C. Yong told investors late Wednesday
these contracts will be among the 36 single stock futures and
three China-related index futures contracts which will trade when
the exchange starts on Jan. 23, 2003.

Besides SingTel, Singapore stocks futures contracts are
Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, Venture Corp., City
Developments, Singapore Technologies Engineering, United Overseas
Bank, and DBS Group.

The U.S. stocks futures contracts, apart from GE, are
Microsoft Corp, Intel Corp, Cisco Systems, Pfizer Inc, and Exxon
Mobil Corp.

IBX, registered in Brunei but wholly owned by Singapore-based
NESDEX Pte. Ltd., was granted the oil-rich kingdom's first
securities exchange license in May 2002 by its Ministry of
Finance. -- Dow Jones