COMMODITIES
Glencore posts profit rise
Commodities giant Glencore International PLC said its full-year profit rose 7 percent last year to reach US$4.06 billion. The Swiss-based company benefited from rising prices for key raw materials and steadily growing demand in developing countries. Glencore reported a profit of US$3.8 billion for the full year 2010. The company said in a statement yesterday that income attributable to shareholders reached US$4.05 billion last year. Glencore, which received a US$10 billion cash injection with its partial IPO in May last year, is seeking to merge with Anglo-Swiss mining group Xstrata PLC later this year.
SOUTH KOREA
Reserves climb US$4.46bn
The country’s foreign--exchange reserves rose last month to a record as the euro and pound strengthened against the US dollar and the central bank made gains by managing assets. Reserves climbed by US$4.46 billion to US$315.8 billion at the end of last month, the Bank of Korea said in a statement yesterday. The country’s reserves were the seventh-largest in the world, trailing China, Japan, Russia, Taiwan, Brazil and Switzerland, as of the end of January.
AUTOMAKERS
Nissan may revive Datsun
Japan’s biggest business daily says Nissan Motor Co might bring back the Datsun, the brand symbolic of the Japanese automaker’s roots. Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn has often talked about reviving the Datsun brand. The Yokohama-based automaker said yesterday that it does not comment on future model plans. The Nikkei Shimbun, reported on Friday that Nissan might revive Datsun as early as 2014 for low-cost cars in emerging markets. Datsun debuted in Japan in 1932, and hit US showrooms more than 50 years ago. It was discontinued globally starting in 1981 to unify the model lineup under the Nissan brand.
SEMICONDUCTORS
AMD stake bought by spin-off
A microchip manufacturer controlled by the Abu Dhabi government says it has reached an agreement to acquire a minority stake held by former owner Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). The chip company, Milpitas, California-based GlobalFoundries, said yesterday that it would acquire AMD’s share, but retain the producer as a key customer. GlobalFoundries said that the deal fulfills its ambition of becoming an independent foundry. Financial details were not immediately available. GlobalFoundries was founded as a spin-off of AMD in 2009. Abu Dhabi’s government-owned Advanced Technology Investment Co took a majority stake following the separation.
PETROLEUM
S Korea investing in UAE
A South Korean energy group is to invest US$2 billion as part of a project to develop three oil fields in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), officials said yesterday. The state-run Korea National Oil Corp and energy firm GS Energy will hold a combined 40 percent stake in the US$5 billion project, with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co taking the remaining stake, the Knowledge Economy Ministry said.
The development of the oil fields — two of them onshore and one offshore — will start this month, it said, adding that the project is expected to see output of 43,000 barrels per day once production begins as early as 2014. Under the 30-year deal, South Korea will take 17,000 barrels of oil per day and will be allowed the entire output in case of emergency, it said.
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