Lawson Inc ( TYO:2651), Japan's second-largest convenience store chain, said on Monday it aims to boost its store numbers in China by 10 times in five to 10 years. It expects a 10 percent share with about 30,000 convenience stores in China in the planned period. Lawson's Japanese rival Seven & I Holdings ( TYO:3382), which runs the industry leading Seven-Eleven chain, also plans to increase the number of its convenience stores in China by more than five times to 500 locations over the next three years.
Sydney, Dec 22, 2009 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Overnight US markets was higher, helped by the healthcare sector after Senate's initial procedural vote to advance a healthcare reform bill. Alcoa and Intel shares also led the top gainers while their investment ratings were upgraded.
Asian markets closed mixed on Monday in pre-holiday trade. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.1 per cent on concerns over Chinese government's property market cooling measures. Tokyo and Shanghai markets posted modest gains yesterday.
The U.S. dollar rose Monday as investors expected the recovering economy could allow U.S. interest rates to rise sooner than expected. The greenback climbed to a six-week high against the yen and near a three-and-a-half-month high against the euro.
Company News
Mitsubishi Corp. (TYO:8058) has agreed to partner with French state-owned nuclear giant Areva SA (EPA:CEI) in a uranium exploration project under way in Mongolia. Under the arrangement, the Japanese trading house will shoulder 34% of exploration costs that have been incurred to date as well as the same portion of future costs. Mitsubishi has also secured rights to acquire 34 percent of Areva Mongol over time.
Lawson Inc (TYO:2651), Japan's second-largest convenience store chain, said on Monday it aims to boost its store numbers in China by 10 times in five to 10 years. It expects a 10 percent share with about 30,000 convenience stores in China in the planned period. Lawson's Japanese rival Seven & I Holdings (TYO:3382), which runs the industry leading Seven-Eleven chain, also plans to increase the number of its convenience stores in China by more than five times to 500 locations over the next three years.
Taiwan's largest epiwafer and LED chip maker Epistar Corp. (TPE:2448) said its board has approved to spend as much as US$120 million in stages to build an epiwafer and light-emitting diode chip in China's Changzhou, Jiangsu Province.
Metallurgical Corp. of China Ltd. (SHA:601618) (HKG:1618) said two of its units have signed framework agreements with the county and municipal governments of Anhui province to build construction projects worth a combined total of CNY33.75 billion.
Las Vegas Sands Corp (NYSE:LVS) Chairman Sheldon Adelson said he expects to restart the construction in about five months and for the first two phases of the project to be completed by the end of 2011 after Sands China Ltd. (HKG:1928), the Macau unit of Las Vegas Sands, raised US$2.5 billion in Hong Kong initial public offering. Construction of the project was halted in November last year due to a lack of funding during the credit crunch.
Contact
Michelle Liang
Asia Business News Asia Bureau
Tel: +61-2-9247-4344
Email: michelle.liang@abnnewswire.net
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