Foxconn ramps up Hunan plant

Foxconn Technology Group plans to open a production center in Central China's Hunan province for Amazon.com Inc, as part of its effort to diversify and reduce its reliance on Apple Inc, according to technology website Digitimes. The center, based in Hengyang, will produce an array of devices for Amazon, the report says, citing unnamed industry sources. The plan includes building a precision-molding demonstration park and Amazon production center in the city, Digitimes reports. The report indicates that Foxconn will enhance the production capacity of its plant in Hengyang this year, adding 30 new production lines for audio equipment and tablets, and another 15 lines for smartphones, tablet mainboards and other components. The expansion plan of Foxconn, a main assembler of Apple's iPhone, may indicate that demand for the Amazon Echo, the voice-activated personal assistant, will increase this year, analysts said.

CC Land buys London's tallest skyscraper

A Chinese realty firm says it has paid ￡1.135 billion ($1.462 billion; 1.342 billion euros) to buy the tallest skyscraper in City of London-the biggest Chinese investment in the United Kingdom's real estate market. Analysts say that the move shows developers are diversifying their investments by location and business models, with more stepping out of the domestic market and getting yields from rental income instead of sales revenue. Hong Kong-listed CC Land Holdings Ltd, controlled by property magnate Cheung Chung-kiu, one of the biggest real estate players in Chongqing, said in an announcement on May 1 that one of its subsidiaries bought 122 Leadenhall Street, known widely as "the Cheesegrater" for its distinctive wedge shape. The deal includes debt of some ￡12.7 million, and on March 31, the building was valued at about ￡1.15 billion, the announcement said. The 225-meter-high building was owned jointly by British Land and Canada's Oxford Properties. The combined space of the 46-floor Cheesegrater is about 56,600 square meters. The skyscraper's projected annual rental income, fully let, will be about 402 million pounds.

HNA holds biggest stake in German bank

HNA Group Co, the Chinese aviation-to-hotels conglomerate, increased its stake in Deutsche Bank AG to almost 10 percent, overtaking Blackrock Inc as the top shareholder in Europe's biggest investment bank. HNA's holding in Germany's biggest bank rose to 9.92 percent, according to a regulatory filing on May 2 by investment entities acting on HNA's behalf. The conglomerate initially reported a 3 percent stake in Deutsche Bank in February, saying at the time that it may increase its holding, while intending to remain below 10 percent. It disclosed a stake of almost 4.8 percent in March.

Ministry approves Dow-DuPont merger

China has decided to greenlight the merger of chemical giants Dow Chemical and DuPont after nearly a year of antitrust investigations, but asked the two to divest some businesses as preconditions of the approval. The Ministry of Commerce said on May 2 in a statement that the merger will boost their market shares for some chemicals and limit competition in the Chinese market and beyond. The two companies' dominance in pesticides, weed killer and several other products will likely increase after the consolidation of their marketing power and R&D division, which will dampen the rise of competitors, negatively impact technological advancement and hurt downstream dealers. The ministry believes the post-merger conglomerate will control nearly 40 percent of China's weed killer market, 75 percent for acid copolymers and 100 percent for ionomers.

Veolia wins energy services deals

French water and waste group Veolia said on May 3 it had won three energy services contracts with industrial clients in China for a total of 864 million euros ($941.7 million;￡731.3 million). Veolia said a contract for steam production at the site of Hongda Chemical, a subsidiary of one of China's leading chemicals industry groups, is worth 335 million euros over 10 years. A 20-year contract for the construction and operation of a chilled water plant to cool a Beijing data center is worth a cumulative 188 million euros, and a 25-year contract for the production of electricity and steam from biomass in Hebei province is worth 341 million euros over the duration of the contract.

Tencent launches AI initiative

Chinese internet titan Tencent Holdings Ltd says it is gearing up its expansion in the artificial intelligence sector, seeing the red hot field as the next frontier of growth and innovation in the internet industry. Tencent, the tech giant best known for its WeChat messaging service and gaming, announced on May 2 that it will open its first US-based AI research lab in Seattle, which will be led by former Microsoft scientist Yu Dong. Yu, appointed as deputy director of Tecent's AI Lab division, will run the new facility and is expected to drive fundamental research on speech recognition and natural language understanding, the company announced.

Scottish distillery toasts partnership

Loch Lomond Group, based in Alexandria, Scotland, has entered into a partnership with China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corp, also known as COFCO. The Scottish independent distillery's full range of whiskies, which include Loch Lomond, Glen Scotia and Little mill, will be available to customers throughout China. Loch Lomond, which was founded in 1814, is based in West Dunbartonshire in Scotland. The company's Littlemill distillery was founded in 1772. The company says the distribution deal will make China one of Loch Lomond Group's key export markets. COFCO has an extensive network of 700 retail outlets and more than 1,000 sub-distributors. Demand for high-quality whisky has soared in the Chinese mainland, driven in part by rising middle-class incomes. According to the Scotch Whisky Association, the value of exports to China increased by 0.5 percent to ￡41 million ($52 million; 47.7 million euros) in 2016, with the market continuing on an upward trend. That followed a previous drop in sales after Beijing's anti-corruption measures curtailed lavish spending among public servants.

GM's net earnings soar 34 percent in Q1

Driven by sales of profitable trucks and SUVs, strong performance in China and growth for GM Financial, General Motors Co's net income in the first quarter soared by nearly 34 percent to a record of $2.61 billion, according to the company's financial statement. The company said earnings per share totaled $1.7, well ahead of analyst calls for $1.48 a share. The company earned $1.26 a share in the quarter a year ago. "Our first-quarter results reflect our resolve to grow profitably and demonstrate the strong earnings power of this company," says GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra.

New routes to link with Astana, Zurich

Air China, the country's national flag carrier, will launch two direct routes in June to connect Beijing with Kazakhstan's capital of Astana and the Swiss financial hub Zurich. Beijing-Astana round-trip flights will begin on June 1, ahead of the 2017 World Expo to be held in the Kazakhstani capital. The inaugural flight from Beijing to Zurich will take off on June 7, according to Air China. The airline currently conducts direct flights between Beijing and the Swiss city of Geneva. It expects the new route to bring more convenience to those traveling between China and Switzerland.

(China Daily European Weekly 05/05/2017 page24)