Rules to govern foreign M&As

THE country would introduce more than 20 supporting regulations on foreign mergers and acquisitions (M&As) of domestic firms before August next year, a senior legislator said Saturday.

The regulations would come out in a series before the Antitrust Law goes into effect August 1, 2008, Cheng Siwei, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, told a forum in Beijing. The regulations would help ensure that foreign M&A deals promote China’s economic growth without threatening its economic security, Cheng said.

EU to press China over yuan

TOP European Union officials will head to China this week in an attempt to engineer a system of more stable exchange after a week in which the euro reached record levels and OPEC considered cutting its reliance on the dollar.

Though planned for weeks, the meetings coincide with some of the sharpest moves in currency markets yet, with the euro rising early Friday to US$1.4967, only a third of a cent below the psychological threshold of US$1.50 and the highest level since the euro was introduced in 1999.

China, Russia to build refinery in Tianjin

CHINA and Russia have agreed to locate a planned oil refinery capable of processing 10 million tons a year in the northern port city of Tianjin.

The country’s top oil firm, China National Petroleum Cooperation (CNPC), and Russia’s Rosneft have set up a joint venture in Tianjin to implement the project, which is still subject to approval by the National Development and Reform Commission. The refinery project is a concrete follow-up to the two companies’ agreement reached in March 2006 to intensify cooperation in the oil sector. The Central Government has listed Tianjin as a national base for the development of the oil industry.

State banks achieve higher credit ratings

STANDARD & Poor’s had upgraded its ratings on four State-owned Chinese banks on their enhanced credit profiles, the rating agency said Friday.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said it had raised its local and foreign currency long-term counterparty credit ratings on Bank of China to A- from BBB+, with a stable outlook. China Construction Bank (CCB) and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) also got upgraded ratings on the long-term counterparty credit rating of foreign currency to A- from BBB+, the rating firm said. CCB’s outlook is stable while ICBC’s outlook is positive. Shanghai-based Bank of Communications, the fifth biggest bank in China, got an outlook rating from stable to positive.