Visa records 26% rise in sales

Visa records 26% rise in sales

JAKARTA: Visa Indonesia said on Monday its card sales volume,
or the total value of transactions made using Visa cards, grew by
26 percent in the first month of the year compared to the same
period last year.

The sales volume in the first quarter of the year rose to
US$900 million, the company said in a statement.

It further said the total number of Visa cards issued in the
country at the end of March this year reached 5.6 millions, up by
9 percent over the same period last year. -- JP

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CorporateBrief-BMW-distribution-KL
BMW takes over distribution in KL
JP/14/Brief

BMW takes over distribution in KL

KUALA LUMPUR: German luxury car maker BMW will take over the
distribution of its vehicles in Malaysia ahead of market
liberalization here in 2005, a report said Monday.

BMW will sign a pact Tuesday with local franchise Sime Darby
Bhd. to set up a joint venture company, in which it will hold a
51 percent stake and Sime the balance, the New Straits Times
reported.

The move ended months of negotiations between the two parties
and came after BMW decided last year to make Malaysia the
regional center for its Asian operations, it said.

Sources were quoted as saying that Sime, which sells around
2,000 BMW vehicles a year in the country, would retain its
assembly and retail rights.

The Bavarian company is expected to set up an office in the
Cyberjaya township south of Kuala Lumpur as well as a
distribution base in the Port of Tanjung Pelepas in southern
Johor state, the daily said. -- AFP

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CorporateBrief-SKGlobal-court
SK Global under court receivership
JP/14/Brief

SK Global under court receivership

SEOUL: Key South Korean creditors of SK Global agreed Monday
to put the troubled trading unit of SK Group under court
receivership in pursuit of a purely domestic bailout plan opposed
by its foreign lenders.

"They unanimously endorsed the plan as proposed by Hana Bank
to put SK Global under court receivership," Kwon In-ki of leading
local creditor Hana Bank said after tense talks at a steering
committee meeting of 12 main local creditors.

Kwon added that the decision to put SK Global into court
receivership was inevitable as local creditors had failed to
narrow their differences with their foreign counterparts over the
firm's debt rescheduling.

SK Global's crisis began earlier this year when the firm
admitted to inflating earnings by more than US$1.2 billion in
2001 to hide losses.

SK Global's total debt stood at 9.93 trillion won ($8.43
billion) at the end of June, according to Hana. SK Global's total
assets were 5.59 trillion won at the end of last year. -- AFP