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