BUSINESSCHINA 14 FRIDAY MARCH 2, 2007 CHINA DAILY

INBRIEF BEIJING Focus Media Investment may slow China’s overall fi xed-asset investment growth may slow to 22 percent in 2007 from to acquire last year’s 24 percent as government curbs on land and lending continue, the Ministry of Land and Resources said, Net ad fi rm citing a researcher. Spending on property and factories by local govern- ments, which accounted for $300m cash-and-stock deal more than 88 percent of the total in 2006, may deceler- with Allyes likely this month ate further this year as the central government maintains By Wang Xing eCapital Corporation, said the measures, Wang Yuanjing, Focus Media’s aggressive a researcher at the National acquisitions stem from the Development and Reform China’s largest outdoor media company’s increasing concern Commission, was quoted as group, Focus Media, yesterday over its over-reliance on a single saying in a statement on the said it will acquire Internet ad- revenue source. land ministry’s website. vertising service company Al- Focus Media’s latest report, lyes Information Technology for released on Monday, said com- Mexico joins WTO claim $300 million in cash and stock mercial locations contributed Mexico has joined the in an effort to forge an empire 63 percent of the company’s United States and Japan in a covering outdoor, indoor, mobile revenue in 2006 while revenue complaint to the World Trade and Internet advertising. from in-store network, in-eleva- Organization (WTO) over Under the terms of the deal, tor and cellphone advertising the Chinese government’s which is expected to come accounted for 12.7 percent, 19.1 alleged payment of subsidies through this month, Focus and 4.6 percent respectively. to manufacturers. The Media will pay $70 million in “Focus Media has to go be- three countries claim State cash and $155 million in stock yond its reliance on ‘outdoor An Egyptian businessman examines Chinese-made shoes at the East China Fair, which opened in Shanghai yesterday. Xiang Ying subsidies make Chinese steel, to Allyes. electronic billboards’,” said paper and consumer products Allyes, which was estab- Wang. “Focus’s other revenue artifi cially cheap. lished in 1998, will also receive generators would not be able The case is the third time an additional payment of up to to sustain the huge company if Numbers up at annual trade fair Washington has taken China to $75 million in stock if it meets one day the growth of China’s the global trade body since its certain earnings targets from outdoor advertising market EXHIBITION Commodities Fair, or the “Can- More visitors and deals are an offi cial from the Shanghai WTO accession. They will enter this April to March 2008. slows down.” ton Fair”. expected this year than at Foreign Economic Relations and into a consultation period of up Allyes’s CEO David Zhu has Although many applauded By Zheng Lifei The combined gross domestic last year’s session, organizers Trade Commission, which is to 60 days if Beijing agrees. signed an employment agree- the high-profi le deal between product of those nine co- said. involved in organizing the fair. ment with Focus Media and Focus Media and Allyes, the organizers accounts for 45 The 16th fair saw 3,540 fi rms This year, 144 overseas Sinochem to buy oilfi eld will remain in his position. acquisition smashed Allyes’s SHANGHAI: Merchant num- percent of the nation’s total, and 23,660 overseas merchants companies from 15 countries Sinochem Corp, China’s biggest “This acquisition is stra- earlier efforts to seek an inde- bers were up on the fi rst day while their combined export when it was held last year, up and regions have booked 188 chemical trader, will submit a tegically important to Focus pendent initial public offering of the country’s second-largest volume accounts for nearly half of 15.08 percent over the previous booths at the fair, according to bid to buy Devon Energy Corp’s Media. It extends our lifestyle in NASDAQ. trade show, the East China Fair, China’s total. This has made the session, according to fi gures the organizers. oil and gas fi elds in Egypt, media platform to one of the Experts believe the sluggish which opened yesterday. fair an increasingly important provided by the organizers. About 120 overseas firms Shanghai Securities News said, fastest-growing media seg- performance of Double Click in The annual fair, which will platform for the country’s A total of $3.3 billion in trade came to the fair last year. citing people it didn’t name. ments in China – the Internet NASDAQ, with a similar busi- run until next Tuesday at the exporters and importers. deals were clinched during last This change is in line with An offer will be made in the – reaching the high-end urban ness model as Allyes, and the city’s New International Expo “It (the fair) is especially year’s fair, an increase of 11.68 the country’s new policy of en- coming days, the newspaper consumers,” said Focus’s CEO robust performance of Focus Center, attracted 3,522 fi rms important for the textile, percent over 2005. couraging more imports to ease said, without giving further Jason Jiang, who was reported to Media triggered the deal. from home and abroad. apparel and handicraft export A growing number of foreign the surging trade surplus. details. have owned shares in Allyes. Apart from the two parties, Its exhibition space covers industry in the region and the companies have shown interest “More and more foreign Sinochem has about 100 Focus Media, which runs another benefi ciary of the deal 100,350 square meters and is country as a whole,” said Wang in the fair this year, keen to tap fi rms are coming to the show million barrels of oil and gas fl at-screen TVs displaying ads is venture capital company divided into four sub-sections Chenghu, an exhibitor from a the huge potential market in the with novel and competitive reserves and aims to double in stores, offi ces and apartment IDG VC, which is the major — apparel, textiles, decor and textile export company in world’s most populous country. products,” Wang said. that volume in the next three buildings, has been expanding investor for both Focus Media consumer goods. nearby Jiangsu Province. Foreign exhibitors previ- And some foreign fi rms are years through acquisitions in since last year through several and Allyes. The 17th East China Fair, “We cannot afford to miss ously attached little impor- attending the fair en masse. the Middle East, Africa and acquisitions to run ads in el- It was reported earlier that which is co-organized by nine the opportunity to meet our tance to the fair as it was Twelve South Korean fabric South America, it said. The evators and cinemas and on IDG earned $65 million from governments across East China, prospective buyers at this fair more export-oriented, the and accessory makers have a company is evaluating almost outdoor electronic billboards Allyes’s deal with Focus Media, has become the second-largest as a considerable amount of our organizers said. zone in the textiles sub-section 80 possible targets, it said. and cellphones. 40 times of what it had invested of its kind in the country after export contracts are done here,” “But the situation has showcasing their products and Wang Ran, CEO of China in Allyes. the Chinese Import and Export Wang said. changed,” said Chen Zhangyuan, technologies. Suitable places to invest China has identifi ed nine countries as suitable for investment by the nation’s oil companies. Chinese oil companies should Honda plans new brand through Guangzhou venture target Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Morocco, Libya, Niger, Norway, Ecuador and Bolivia for invest- MANUFACTURING The 50/50 venture, as all major Sino-foreign car home-grown brands will ac- December that it plans to set up & Jun’an Securities Co said: ments, according to guidance Guangzhou Honda Automobile ventures only assemble models count for more than 60 percent a new research center to boost “It should be a small car, as published on the website of By Gong Zhengzheng Co, will announce a plan for the under overseas badges. of the market by 2010. its development capability with Chinese customers still favor the National Development and new brand later this month or “Guangzhou Honda seems South Korean carmaker increasing localization of auto foreign brands in the medium- Reform Commission. in April, he said, declining to to be working the way policy- Hyundai Motor Co’s joint parts. More than 80 percent of and high-end segments.” China National Petroleum Japan’s No 3 carmaker Honda provide details. makers intended. Government venture with Beijing Automo- the parts it uses are currently Honda also has a joint venture Corp and China Petrochemical Motor Co plans to create a new He stressed that Guangzhou policy is meant to develop inde- tive Industry Corp said it also made in China. in the central city of Wuhan with Corp are among companies brand in China through a local Honda is expected to be the fi rst pendent automotive companies, plans to launch a non-Hyundai Formed in 1998, Guangzhou Dongfeng Motor Corp. scouring the globe for oil and joint venture to further tap the major Sino-foreign car venture not companies that depend on branded car in 2008. Honda is one of the most profi t- The venture’s line-up in- gas resources to meet surging world’s second-biggest vehicle to create a home-grown brand. the foreign technology source Honda said it was the right able Sino-foreign joint ventures. cludes the CR-V sport utility demand in the world’s fast- market. The venture, based in the in perpetuity,” Bonnell said. moment for its venture to de- It posted more than 5 billion vehicle and the Civic compact est-growing major economy. Fu Shoujie, executive vice- southern city of Guangzhou, Government calls have been velop a home-grown brand. yuan in 2006 post-tax profi t, sedan. The country’s oil demand may president of Honda’s partner- makes Honda’s Accord mid- growing for domestic automak- “The time is ripe for according to industry data. The Japanese carmaker’s rise 6.1 percent to 7.56 million ship with Guangzhou Automo- sized sedan, City compact ers and their joint ventures with Guangzhou Honda to do so The venture aims to sell 2006 sales in China totaled barrels a day this year, the bile Corp, said the new brand sedan, Fit subcompact car and foreign partners to speed up de- as it has had a strong product 310,000 vehicles this year, up 323,469 vehicles, up 25.9 per- International Energy Agency would be an indigenous one Odyssey van. velopment of indigenous brands development and profit-mak- from 261,000 units in 2006. cent from the previous year. said in a February 13 forecast. without the Honda logo. John Bonnell, an analyst with to alter the scenario that foreign ing capability as well as a big It has an annual production Meanwhile, sales of all “The new brand’s intellectual Automotive Resources Asia, a marques now control three- customer base,” said Zhu Linjie, capacity of 360,000 units. China-made vehicles climbed SHANGHAI property will be held by the joint consulting fi rm owned by JD quarters of China’s passenger spokesperson for Honda Motor Commenting on Guangzhou by a quarter to 7.22 million venture, instead of by Honda Power and Associates, said it car market. (China) Investment Co. Honda’s planned home-grown units, including 4.2 million Random House opens alone,” Fu told China Daily. could be “monumental news”, The government expects The venture announced in brand, Zhang Xin from Guotai passenger cars. Random House Inc, the world’s largest English-language trade publisher, has opened a fl agship store in the Shanghai Popular Book Mall. Located in Xujiahui, the Random House Africa upbeat over HiSoft buys out US fi rm store offers more than 3,000 books. It said it would stock new arrivals in line with ties with China North America, and European to tap overseas markets countries, and the imported ECONOMIC TIES other nations got what they books will be priced similarly needed from the continent but ACQUISITION said the profi t margin of the outsourcing companies have — 20 to 30 percent lower than By Zhang Lu made no real efforts in sharing US market was much higher been gearing up to expand in the same books in the city’s wealth with it. By Wang Xu than in Japan, which used to recent years, as the nation’s IT other bookstores. “The way China approaches account for the bulk of HiSoft’s outsourcing sector shows early The increased ties between its relations with Africa will revenue. signs of taking off. HONG KONG China and Africa will prompt fundamentally change the HiSoft Technology International Established in 2000, Califor- The sector is expected to other nations to pay closer way the rest of the world is Ltd, a major local software nia-based Envisage Solutions grow at an average annual rate Lending curbs worries attention to the continent and responding (to Africa),” he told outsourcing service provider, employs 62 consultants in the of 50.2 percent to $7.03 billion Manufacturing growth for build a new kind of economic China Daily, adding that the Eric Chinje said it has completed a deal US. In previous years, it has by 2010, according to CCID, a February in China increased relationship with it, the continent is already being paid to acquire its US counterpart worked with Fortune 1,000 local consultancy specializing the likelihood of the central spokesman of the African greater attention by the world Shanghai, with the central Envisage Solutions, to further companies such as Novell and in the IT sector. bank tightening money Development Bank (AfDB) as a result of its proximity to theme being “Africa and Asia penetrate the US and European General Electric in the auto- Beijing-based hiSoft will supply, Hong Kong-based said. China. – Partners in Development”. markets. motive, telecom, high-tech, strive to grow faster than the brokerage CLSA Asia-Pacifi c According to Eric Chinje, In Chinje’s view, “Chinese The event, an important Beijing-headquartered hiSoft pharmaceutical and fi nancial market and plans to increase Markets said yesterday. director of the AfDB’s internal President Hu Jintao’s visit gathering of the bank’s board of declined to reveal the value of sectors. its headcount to 8,000 by 2009, Manufacturing activity and external communications, to eight African countries governors, who are represented the cash-and-stock deal. “The merger gives hiSoft according to Loh. rose to the highest in three Chinese and African leaders are in February demonstrated a by finance ministers or But its offer could be as a shortcut to explore the Established in 1993, HiSoft months as companies received approaching a new framework strong commitment, and not central bank governors of its much as two times Envisage’s US and European markets, now has 2,000 engineers in more orders and production of Sino-African ties, which is only on a political level.” 77 member countries, will revenue, which is around $9 which will boost its scope China, Japan and the United jumped, according to CLSA’s different from Africa’s relations One of the concrete outcomes discuss topics such as trade, million, according to Loh Tiak for growth, compared with States. And it provides serv- China Purchasing Managers’ with other big powers in the of the relationship is that with infrastructure — especially in Koon, chief executive offi cer of the Japanese market,” said ices such as testing and ap- Index. past. China’s help, a number of Africa — climate change and hiSoft International. Wang Tao, an analyst with plication development to major China’s central bank has “Under the framework, African countries have been capital fl ows. “The merger will greatly market researcher Analysys clients including Microsoft and forced banks to set aside agreed at November’s African able to cut down the cost of China’s hosting of boost our client base in the US International. Symantec. more money as reserves summit in Beijing, the two building roads, translating the meeting gives Zhou and European markets. Mean- According to hiSoft, the US “We also expect to hold a twice this year to rein in sides will attempt to address into better infrastructure for Xiaochuan, governor of the while the complementary mix and Western European markets share offering in 2008, either lending. Governor Zhou the economic needs of each the continent. People’s Bank of China, of our services will also benefi t made up 75 percent of the world’s in the US or Japan,” said Loh. Xiaochuan is concerned other,” Chinje said. “This year’s annual meeting automatic chairmanship of the new company,” Loh said $30 billion IT outsourcing HiSoft received the $30 that cash from a record It is clear to Africans of our board of governors will the board this year. yesterday. market in 2006. And it said million in second-round trade surplus is raising the that China needs natural further build this mutually Chinje said he hopes the After the deal, hiSoft will global spending on outsourcing investment from US venture risk of an asset bubble and resources, which Africa has benefi cial relationship,” Chinje bank would be a critical see more than 50 percent of its services would maintain an capital firms including accelerating infl ation. in abundance, to sustain its said. player in promoting Sino- total revenue coming from the annual growth of 16 percent in Granite Global Ventures, booming economy. The AfDB will hold the African economic and trade US market, compared with the the next fi ve years. Intel Capital and ePlanet Agencies-China Daily Throughout Africa’s history, meeting in mid-May in relations. current 35 percent. Analysts Domestic software Ventures.