IN BRIEF

Deals

Mengniu eyeing Pfizer's infant unit

Dairy company Mengniu Dairy Co Ltd may bid for Pfizer Inc's infant-nutrition business, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Mengniu's consideration of a potential bid is at an early stage, the people, who asked not to be identified, said. The company won't decide whether to proceed until more financial data is available, one of the people said.

The infant-nutrition business may fetch as much as $10.5 billion.

Auto

BYD sets up headquarters in LA

Alternative energy automaker BYD Co Ltd opened its North American headquarters in Los Angeles on Oct 24 and said its first electric shuttle bus has become operational at the Los Angeles International Airport, as part of a partnership with Hertz Global Holdings Inc.

Shenzhen-based BYD's Chairman Wang Chuanfu said the new headquarters will create 150 new green-collar engineering and management jobs focused on research and development in LA, and serve as the focal point for privately owned BYD dealerships across the continent.

BMW poised for record year in China

German luxury carmaker BMW Group has sold more than 177,000 vehicles in China during the first three quarters of the year and already surpassed the full-year numbers for 2010.

The company said in a recent statement that it delivered 165,669 BMW and 11,853 MINI cars in the first nine months, robust year-on-year growth rates of 45 percent and 60 percent.

The company did not disclose its 2011 sales target for China, where it moved nearly 170,000 cars last year.

Volvo looking to bolster truck business

Sweden's Volvo AB, the world's second-largest producer of heavy-duty vehicles, is planning more investments in India and China to bolster its truck business and meet demand from these markets.

The truck division's investments in China will include opening research and development centers, and expanding distribution and retail sales, Volvo Group senior vice-president Par Ostberg said in an interview in Singapore on Oct 24.

Machinery

Sany Group to grow market share in US

Heavy machinery maker Sany Group is planning to increase investment in its US branch next year and look for a bigger market share in North America, according to group chairman Liang Wengen.

Sany will invest another $25 million next year for an R&D facility in Peachtree City, Georgia, Liang said during his meeting with Governor Nathan Deal who was on a visit to central China's Hunan province.

The move will add 300 jobs in Sany's US branch, which currently employs 130 people, mostly Americans.

Property

Luxury home sales to boost Sunac earnings

Sunac China Holdings Ltd, the developer partly-owned by Bain Capital LLC, said sales might exceed 20 billion yuan ($3.3 billion, 2.3 billion euros) next year as it sells more luxury homes to wealthy Chinese buyers.

Tianjin-based Sunac's cash will rise to 6 billion yuan and the company expects to reach this year's 18.3 billion yuan sales target in November, Chairman Sun Hongbin said.

Aviation

Sichuan Airlines to boost fleet

Sichuan Airlines Co Ltd, partly owned by China Southern Airlines Co Ltd, has placed an initial order for 20 C919 jets, bringing the total order for the country's self-developed commercial jets to 165 units.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed in a statement released by C919's maker, Commercial Aircraft Corp of China.

The C919 jet is designed to compete with Boeing's 737 and Airbus's A320 in the narrow-body segment. The test flights for the single-aisle, 150-seat C919 are scheduled for 2014 and delivery is slated for 2016.

Pharma

Novartis to trim jobs in US, add in China

European drug major Novartis AG is planning to eliminate 2,000 jobs in Switzerland and the United States and add more employees in China and India to offset the effect of drug price reductions.

The cuts, equivalent to about 1 percent of Novartis' workforce, will be implemented over three to five years and yield annual savings of more than $200 million, the Switzerland-based company said in a statement.

Novartis plans to close a plant in Nyon, Switzerland, which makes over-the-counter drugs and chemical sites in Basel, and Torre in Italy.

Finance

JP Morgan confident of prospects in China

Financial services firm JP Morgan has said its business in China will maintain robust growth, despite gloomy prospects for the global financial sector.

Due to new banking regulations and financial turmoil in the eurozone, banking profitability has been declining over the past 12 months. But Shao Zili, China head of JP Morgan, said the bank's China business overall is still growing at a solid pace, although its primary business has been affected by market volatility.

The bank said it remains confident in its plan to double its revenue in China over the next three years. The rapid growth in China comes as JP Morgan reported this month that its global third-quarter earnings fell 4 percent overall.

China Daily-Agencies