BUSINESS NEWS IN ASIA TODAY

AUSTRALIAN FIRM UGL’S JV WITH KAEFER WINS US$438MLN CONTRACT

SYDNEY – Australian engineering firm UGL Ltd’s (ASX:UGL) fifty-fifty joint venture with German insulation company KAEFER has won a A$500 million (US$438.3 million) contract with Esso Australia. The seven-year contract is for maintenance and minor project services, including mechanical, electrical and instrumentation, scaffolding, painting, insulation, civil, procurement and planning services. “This win…positions us well to capitalise on a large and long pipeline of oil and gas maintenance projects ahead,” UGL managing director and chief executive Richard Leupen said.

AUST. UCG CO LINC ENERGY IN TALKS TO SELL SOME NON-CORE ASSETS

SYDNEY – Australian underground coal gasification company Linc Energy Ltd (ASX:LNC) remains in talks with several parties about selling its non-core Queensland coal tenements. The company had not signed any binding contract or finalised material terms and the talks remained commercial in confidence, Brisbane-based Linc said in a statement today. According to reports last week, India’s Adani Enterprises (BSE:512599) was poised to buy one of Linc’s non-core assets in Queensland with the price tipped at around US$1 billion. Further reports suggested that Adani was raising US$850 million to fund the sale.

TAIWANESE CHIP MAKERS NANYA, INOTERA MEMORIES EXTEND LOSSES

TAIPEI – Nanya Technology Corp. (TAIEX:2408) and Inotera Memories, Inc. (TAIEX:3474), two DRAM chip firms in Taiwan, said Wednesday they extended losses in the second quarter of this year from the previous quarter largely on reduced production. In the second quarter, Nanya Technology posted NT$$1.02 billion (US$31.7 million) in net losses, compared with NT$1.63 billion in in net loss in the first quarter. Inotera also registered NT$1.81 billion in net losses in the second quarter, extending its NT$1.56 billion in net losses in the first quarter. The two companies said production had fallen because they were transitioning to a more advanced production process and thus failed to reach full capacity.

JAPAN’S ULVAC, SAUDI FIRM TO TIE UP IN PLASTIC CAR WINDOWS

TOKYO – Japanese chipmaking equipment manufacturer ULVAC INC. (TSE:6728) and chemical producer SAUDI BASIC INDUSTRIES CORP. (Sabic) say that they will jointly develop polycarbonate resin production technologies for car windows. By combining Ulvac’s vacuum technologies and the Saudi Arabian firm’s polycarbonate resin technologies, the pair aim to offer automakers production solutions for a lighter alternative to glass. Under the partnership agreement, Ulvac is to develop mass-production systems using polycarbonate resin production technologies provided by EXATEC LLC, a wholly owned unit of Sabic group firm SABIC INNOVATION PLASTICS. The company expects to ship 30-50 units over the next five years.

CHINA’S PING AN INSURANCE H1 PREMIUM INCOME UP 33 PCT Y-O-Y

BEIJING – PING AN INSURANCE (SSE:601318), one of China’s insurance giants, on July 20 posted premiums income up 32.94 per cent year on year to 123.1 billion yuan (US$18.16 billion) in the first half of 2010. In June, Ping An Insurance’s premium income came to 18.6 billion yuan, up 19.64 per cent year on year but down 2.3 per cent month on month. The premium incomes of four subsidiaries of Ping An Insurance — Ping An life insurance, Ping An Property and casualty insurance, Ping An health insurance, and Ping An Annuity Insurance — stood at 90.496 billion yuan, 29.975 billion yuan, 795.9 billion yuan and 2.549 billion yuan in the first half of 2010 respectively.

STRABAG OMAN WINS SOHAR AIRPORT AIRFIELD INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT

MUSCAT – Construction firm Strabag Oman has been awarded a contract to execute the airfield infrastructure package of the Sohar Airport project at a cost of RO 27.6 million (US$71.7 million), the Oman Daily Observer has reported. It says that this contract represents a key phase in the development of a greenfield airport in Sohar, which along with plans for a major expressway and rail network will underpin the port city’s eventual transformation into a major industrial and economic hub on the Batinah coast. Strabag is also undertaking the first phase package of the Sohar Airport Project, which it was awarded in June 2009. The contract valued at RO 37.5 million, covers site preparation works and the construction of access roads and car park facilities, among other amenities.

KEPCO BAGS 20% STAKE IN INDONESIAN COAL PRODUCER BAYAN RESOURCES

JAKARTA – Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) (KSE:015760) has acquired a 20 per cent stake in coal producer PT Bayan Resources (JSX:BYAN) at a price of Rp4.6 trillion (US$511 million). A number of Bayan’s shareholders sold only part of their shares, therefore, none of them has quit being a shareholder, Jenny Quantero, a company director, said. The founding shareholders and a number of minority shareholders had signed the purchase and sales agreement recently, Quantero told the newspaper Investor Daily. The fund from the share sales belong to the individual shareholders. Therefore, it is not used for the interest of the company, she said.

DOCOMO, KDDI PITCH NEW MOBILE BROADCAST PLANS TO JAPANESE GOV’T

TOKYO – NTT DoCoMo Inc. (TSE:9437) and KDDI Corp. (TSE:9433) have each briefed the Japanese Communications Ministry on their competing plans for providing a next-generation mobile-device broadcasting service. With the government set to issue a single license for the next-generation service, which is scheduled to begin in spring 2012, both firms played up the merits of their business plans. DoCoMo said it would hold capital spending to 43.8 billion yen (US$503.5 million) as a way to lower customer fees and encourage widespread use of the service. It estimates that monthly rates will reach around 300 yen. KDDI intends to invest 96.1 billion yen under its strategy to build 865 base stations, about seven times the number planned by DoCoMo.

PHILIPPINE CENTRAL BANK COOLS CONCERNS OVER BDO’S TAKEOVER BID

MANILA – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has challenged comments that Philippine lender Banco de Oro Unibank’s (BDO, PSE:BDO) acquisition of the problem-laden Export-Import Bank (EIB) is beneficial only for BDO. In a statement, the central bank said it is not true that BDO is getting a preferential deal in its acquisition of EIB. It said BDO serves as the savior and survivor here and was chosen by EIB, a commercial bank, after a wide selection process that involves large number of potential domestic and international “white knights.” BDO, a universal bank, was allowed to acquire EIB but was ordered to assume among others the latter’s P9 billion (US$193.6 million) outstanding loan to the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC), which was given as a financial assistance (FA) after EIB was placed by the central bank under prompt corrective action (PCA) a few years back.

INDIA’S ENGINEERING EXPORTS UP BY 90 PCT IN JUNE

NEW DELHI – India’s engineering exports jumped by about 90 per cent on year-on-year basis in June to US$5.1 billion despite concerns of financial problems in some European economies. “Demand is reviving in the U.S., but in the European markets, there is a demand compression”, Engineering Export Promotion Council executive director R Maitra said. Exporters fear that crisis in the European markets may impact orders from the region, he said. Of the total US$32.5 billion engineering exports in 2009-10, EU accounted for about 30 per cent. Engineering exports, which had come under a severe impact of global slowdown last year are showing recovery at a faster pace than the total exports from the country.