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• China Approves HSBC Sale of $7.4 Billion Ping An Stake

  

  China approved the sale of HSBC's remaining $7.4 billion stake in Ping An Insurance to a group controlled by Thailand's richest man, completing the biggest equity purchase in the country by a foreign investor.

• UPDATE 1-Samsung Elec chairman wins $4 bln court feud over family fortune

  SEOUL, Feb 1- Samsung Electronics Co Ltd Chairman Lee Kun- hee fended off a lawsuit by estranged family members demanding he hand over billions of dollars of shares in Samsung companies as a South Korean court ruled in his favour on Friday.

• Samsung Elec chairman wins $4 bln court feud over family fortune

  SEOUL, Feb 1- Samsung Electronics Co Ltd Chairman Lee Kun- hee fended off a lawsuit by estranged family members demanding he hand over billions of dollars of shares in Samsung companies as a South Korean court ruled in his favour on Friday.

• UPDATE 3-Bumi urges rejection of Rothschild call for new board

  LONDON, Jan 29- Bumi Plc, the London- listed Indonesian coal mining group riven by a shareholder dispute urged investors on Tuesday to reject British financier Nat Rothschild's proposal to replace the board and back its own plan for peace instead.

• PRECIOUS-Platinum down 1.2 pct as Amplats delays job cuts

  *Technical pressure adds to platinum selling below $1,700. *Russia, Turkey sharply added gold reserves in December. NEW YORK, Jan 28- Platinum posted its biggest one-day drop in over a month on Monday, as news the world's largest platinum producer Anglo American Platinum agreed to postpone massive job cuts eased supply fears.

• Shell signs on to natural gas export project

  A U.S. division of Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Monday that it has agreed to join a venture that plans to export liquefied natural gas from a terminal near Savannah, Ga.. The terminal company, Southern LNG Co., applied for an export permit from the Department of Energy last March.

• UPDATE 3-Caterpillar pessimistic on any demand increase for 2013

  *Fourth-quarter EPS falls 55 percent to $1.04. Jan 28- Caterpillar Inc, the world's largest maker of construction equipment, posted a 55 percent drop in quarterly profit on Monday due to a charge connected with accounting fraud at a Chinese subsidiary and weak demand among its dealers.

• UPDATE 1-Caterpillar profit weakened by high inventory, China fraud

  Jan 28- Caterpillar Inc, the world's largest maker of construction equipment, posted a 55 percent drop in quarterly profit on Monday due to a charge connected with accounting fraud at a Chinese subsidiary and weak demand among its dealers.

• DEALTALK-Happy hour in Asia as global booze makers eye deals

  MUMBAI, Jan 28- The biggest global alcohol companies are sizing up buyout and tie-up opportunities in China, India, South Korea and Vietnam, keen to profit from a $258 billion Asian market that is growing twice as fast as the rest of the world.

• UPDATE 1-Volvo to be biggest in heavy trucks with Dongfeng JV

  BEIJING/ STOCKHOLM, Jan 26- Sweden's Volvo said it will surpass Daimler as the world's biggest maker of heavy trucks after agreeing to set up a joint venture in China with Dongfeng Motor Group Co.. Volvo will pay 5.6 billion yuan for a 45 percent stake in the JV, giving it access to China where it currently has only a minor presence.

• AB Volvo to form new heavy truck joint venture in China with Dongfeng Motor

  BEIJING, Jan 26- Swedish heavy truck producer AB Volvo said on Saturday it had signed an agreement with China's Dongfeng Motor Group Co. to create a new commercial vehicle joint venture in China, pending official approval. AB Volvo said in a media release it would take a 45 percent stake for 5.6 billion yuan.

• Okada sues Wynn Resorts in bid to keep board seat

  SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 25- Japanese gaming billionaire Kazuo Okada has filed a lawsuit in a Nevada court in an attempt to keep his seat on the board of Wynn Resorts Ltd..

• Ex-banker accused of helping in Olympus fraud granted bail

  *Bail set at $5 mln for Chan Ming Fon. NEW YORK, Jan 25- A former Singapore banker charged with helping Japan's Olympus Corp engineer a $1.7 billion accounting fraud was granted bail by a U.S. judge on Friday.

• UPDATE 1-VW says may enter low-cost market with China-built car

  WOLFSBURG, Germany, Jan 25- Volkswagen may build its first low-cost car in China, a company executive said, as the German group ponders a move into no-frills vehicles to compete with Renault's Dacia and Nissan's Datsun.

• Red flags revealed in filings of firm linked to Caterpillar fraud

  HONG KONG, Jan 24- A Chinese mining equipment company at the centre of an alleged accounting fraud was also involved in a web of insider loans and asset transfers prior to its purchase by Caterpillar Inc., public filings show.

• Nikkei moves sideways after sharp losses, Apple suppliers sag

  *Toshiba favoured on news of GE thermal energy tie-up. Ibiden Co Ltd, which makes printed circuit boards for the iPhone, slid 5.7 percent, while Foster Electric Co Ltd, Taiyo Yuden Co Ltd and Sharp Corp, slipped between 1 percent and 2.5 percent.

• China Investment Banks Hunker Down as Regulator Shuts IPO Tap

  

  Chinese investment banks are carrying out their biggest layoffs and bonus cuts since the financial crisis as they brace for further profit declines, hit by an ongoing drought in initial public offerings in China that started in September.

• China Investment Banks Hunker Down As Regulator Shuts IPO Tap

  

  Chinese investment banks are carrying out their biggest layoffs and bonus cuts since the financial crisis as they brace for further profit declines, hit by an ongoing drought in initial public offerings in China that started in September.

• Simcere Pharma sells stake in Shanghai Celgen

  Simcere Pharmaceutical Group has agreed to sell its stake in Shanghai Celgen Bio-Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. for about 302 million yuan. The Chinese drug developer said Tuesday it entered into a share transfer agreement with Devont Asset Management Ltd. on Jan. 15 to sell its roughly 35 percent equity interest in Shanghai, which it acquired in 2009..

• Nikkei rises, BOJ makes open-ended commitment on asset buying

  TOKYO, Jan 22- The Nikkei share average extended gains on Tuesday afternoon after the Bank of Japan announced an open-ended commitment to buy assets and doubled its inflation target to 2 percent to boost Japan's ailing economy. The Nikkei rose 1 percent to 10,855.03 after trading at around 10,777 before the BOJ announcement.