WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19 AUSTRALIA: NEWS Corp has agreed on a sale price for its 50 per cent share in Ansett Australia with Air New Zealand. The price is believed to be between A$400 million (about HK$2.3 billion) and $600 million. Only the details of a management agreement between Ansett's other parent, TNT, and ANZ have yet to be finalised. - THE AUSTRALIAN THE Australian arm of United States food and textile giant Sara Lee Corp has confirmed its parent may be interested in Pacific Dunlop's food group. Rumours yesterday suggested that Sara Lee might swap its Australian textile business for Pacific Dunlop's food group. - FINANCIAL REVIEW MALAYSIA: INTEREST rates among commercial banks, now hovering at seven per cent, are expected to touch eight per cent by the end of the year. Foreign exchange dealers said increasing demand for funds, especially to finance infrastructure projects, was likely to push up rates after tightening of liquidity by monetary authorities. - THE SUN MALAYSIAN stockbroking and property magnate Rashid Hussain says the country's ongoing general-elections hype was not expected to result in any boom on the stock market. The exchange has been undergoing a bearish period since the announcement of polls last week and Mr Rashid says the market needs more time before it can turn around. - THE STAR SINGAPORE: CONGLOMERATE Hong Leong Singapore, which has been given the exclusive option to bid for the Tenet hospital chain, has baulked at the price. Tenet is said to be asking for US$400 million and not S$400 million (about HK$2.22 billion) as reported earlier. Hong Leong is the parent of listed property group City Developments, Hong Leong Finance and Hong Kong-listed CDL Hotels. - BUSINESS TIMES THE demand for residential properties is down, according to bankers who say there was a significant drop in the number of property loan transactions during the first quarter. However, market analysts are divided over the price trend in the first quarter. - BUSINESS TIMES JARDINE Strategic Holdings (JSH) - which was delisted from the Hong Kong exchange at the end of last year and started trading in Singapore at the beginning of this year - has fallen victim to the instability of the US dollar. JSH's rights issue is now in jeopardy and its actively traded nil-paid rights have become almost worthless with its share price (denominated in US dollars) continuing to fall. - STRAITS TIMES OCBC Asset Management, the fund management arm of OCBC Bank, has joined the competition in launching a new unit trust that will tap the pool of savings under the Enhanced Investment Scheme of the Central Provident Fund. - STRAITS TIMES NATSTEEL says it has bought an additional 695,000 ordinary shares of M$1 (about HK$3.13) each in associate company Southern Steel. The move brings its stake in the company to 22 per cent of equity or 61.79 million shares. - STRAITS TIMES THAILAND: A GROUP led by Saudi arms dealer and billionaire Adnan Khashoggi has scrapped plans to make a public tender offer to buy Technology Application (Thailand) from general shareholders, according to their financial adviser, Bangkok Bank of Commerce. - BANGKOK POST
