Mission accomplished for Prague protesters The week began with nervous economic leaders heading for talks - and the now inevitable activist protests - at the Group of Seven (G7) and World Trade Organisation (WTO) meetings in Prague. While soaring oil prices and the battered euro were being bandied as the most vital talking points, many finance ministers were more concerned about the mundane matter of simply getting past the awaiting protesters and into the meeting. Activists, fresh from 'successful' disruptions of last year's WTO meeting in Seattle and the free-trade talks in Melbourne earlier last month, have long eyed Prague as the next soap-box for their anti-globalisation views. Tear gas, water cannons, stun grenades, vandalism and arrests followed. If the protesters' main aim was to disrupt the meeting, they were successful, as it seemed no concrete decisions were made in Prague. Sinopec plans axings in line with rival About 20 per cent of China Petrochemical Corp's (Sinopec) workforce will be laid off over the next five years as the giant battles to keep in touch with mainland restructuring. Chairman Li Yizhong said the mainland's largest oil refiner would axe 100,000 jobs, initially costing it 1.8 billion yuan (about HK$1.68 billion) but later giving it two billion yuan in savings over the next two years. The move brings Sinopec in line with rival PetroChina, which earlier this month announced it was trimming its staff by 10 per cent, or 50,000 jobs. Later in the week, Sinopec announced its listing vehicle, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, had secured US$200 million of investments from four local blue-chip firms - a timely boost ahead of the firm's upcoming initial public offering. Jardine Fleming staff loyalty hits new low The disintegration of staff loyalty reached a new low when Jardine Fleming's entire 10-man corporate finance team in Tokyo resigned en masse to join rival investment banker ING Barings. Hardly coy in its coup, ING Barings crowed it was 'delighted to welcome them aboard'. The news could not have come at a worse time for Chase Manhattan, which had just wrapped up a US$7.7 billion acquisition of Jardine Fleming and its British merchant banking parent, Robert Fleming. Investors still prefer to queue Hong Kong's first online initial public offering (IPO) applications were released last week - but you may not have noticed. Long queues outside banks and MTR stations for the Mass Transit Railway Corporation's IPO - set to raise between HK$8 billion and HK$9.38 billion - revealed potential investors still prefer the traditional application method rather than logging on to apply for shares. But banks said minor delays caused by online congestion revealed e-banking had a future in the SAR. Public enthusiasm for the IPO paled in comparison to that of Hong Kong's property developers. Cheung Kong (Holdings), Sun Hung Kai Properties and the Henderson group of companies subscribed to two-thirds of the shares offered in the float. By the Thursday deadline, more than 520,000 applications were received - beating Tom.com's record of 440,000 set in March. Late in the week, the Government was forced to defend its choice of Brooke International as the valuer of the float. Queries over fine print in the Companies Ordinance put Brooke's qualifications in doubt. The clause states the valuation must be made by a company with paid-up capital of at least HK$1 million - Brooke reportedly has a paid-up capital of HK$30. HK$11b loan boosts China Mobile bid China Mobile (Hong Kong)'s bid to acquire seven mobile telephone networks from parent China Mobile Communications received a boost when it arranged a syndicated loan of up to 12 billion yuan (HK$11.23 billion). Currency safety net one step closer Implementation of a 'safety net' for regional currencies is a step closer after finance authorities from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreed to seek a basic framework at the group's state meeting late next month. The idea for a currency net, which would supplement reserves in possible currency crises, was mooted in the wake of the 1997 Asian crisis. The net would enable a country to borrow from its network partners to absorb selling pressure without having to resort to a damaging devaluation. Sales drop sees Sino Land profit slide Fewer property sales saw Sino Land's profit in the year to June 30 fall 10.4 per cent from a year earlier. Internet firms in wave of consolidation The first wave of Internet mergers appears to have washed up on Hong Kong's shores - is there a flood to come? E2-Capital (Holdings) and Netalone.com will merge their electronic-business enabler units - which help firms adapt the Internet to their operations - in a deal worth HK$60 million. Analysts said the announcement was an example of new economy firms cutting costs by coming together to tap economies of scale, and predicted more mergers to come. Nip and tuck for CyberWorks results Pacific Century CyberWorks was accused of 'dressing up' its interim results for the six months to June 30 through a change of accounting methods. CyberWorks announced a loss of HK$35 million for the period - way below analysts' expectations of a HK$250 million shortfall. Re-classifying long-term holdings into short-term investment allowed CyberWorks to bolster itself with a HK$562 million gain from its 3.8 per cent stake in Tom.com and some of its holding in CMGI. Meanwhile, trying to reverse his company's stock-price freefall, chairman Richard Li Tzar-ki hinted he would buy back some of CyberWorks' struggling shares. On Friday, it was revealed CyberWorks was working on a 'plan B' in case its scheme to combine telecoms assets with Australia's Telstra falls through. A new alliance with a leading United States telecom is now in the works after the Australian firm hinted it was unhappy with the terms of the tie-up in the wake of CyberWorks' share-price trials. SIA endorses bigger birds The superjumbo jetliner is coming. Singapore Airlines (SIA) has placed an US$8.6 billion order with European aircraft-maker Airbus Industrie for 25 new Airbus A3XX. SIA's order - a victory for Airbus over rival Boeing - is a big endorsement for the superjumbo's future. Each plane will be capable of carrying at least 500 people. Hungry hedge funder goes it alone What does a hungry young hedge-fund trader do when his boss gets cold feet and retreats to the mansion to lick his wounds and count his billions? Start a hedge fund of his own, of course. Scott Bessent, who used to manage European investments for financier George Soros, has raised US$1 billion for his new fund group - Bessent Capital Management - with US$600 million going into a global fund and US$400 million into a European stock fund. Perhaps hinting of his future intentions that may cause many regional central bankers to have sleepless nights, Mr Bessent named Southeast Asia as among the top spots to hunt for stocks to sell short. Graphic: weekcygwz
