News in Brief

MADRID: The IMF could raise its 4.6% forecast for global GDP growth in 2004 despite rising oil prices, the fund's managing director Rodrigo Rato said. 

Speaking at a conference on the 60th anniversary of the Bretton Woods agreements, Rato said although there are no immediate plans to change the forecast, there is “more risk” of this being revised higher than lower. – AFX-Asia 

TOKYO: Japan's largest online shopping mall operator Rakuten Inc said it will take a 20.43% stake in Ctrip.com International Ltd, an online ticket service firm for China, for an undisclosed amount. 

The transfer of shares will take place on June 21 and when the transfer of shares is completed, Rakuten will emerge as the single largest shareholder in Ctrip.com. – AFX-Asia 

TAIPEI: China Airlines and EVA Airways, along with five foreign carriers, have been granted permission to impose fuel surcharges to offset the impact of soaring oil prices, officials said yesterday. 

The five international carriers are Cathay Pacific Airways, Dragonair, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Thai Airways. – AFX-Asia 

NEW YORK: Goldman Sachs is considering an overhaul of its US mergers and acquisitions business following similar moves by other Wall Street banks ahead of an expected upturn in activity, the Financial Times reported. 

The world leader in advising on corporate deals, Goldman is actively considering recreating a specialist M&A department in New York, the newspaper quoted people familiar with the discussions as saying. 

Goldman has not made a final decision but one is expected in the next few months. The company redeployed most of its M&A bankers when deals dried up following the stock market slump in 2000. – AFX-Asia 

SINGAPORE: China-based jet fuel procurer China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corp (CAO) said its jet fuel procurement in the third quarter rose 16% from a year earlier to a record 630,000 metric tonnes, boosted by strong demand for fuel in the Pudong Area. 

"The new tender is 16% higher than the total volume we procured in the same quarter in 2003, showing the extreme good health of demand," Chen Jiulin, China Aviation's Managing Director and CEO, said. - AFX-Asia 

HONG KONG: Chip maker CSMC Technologies Corp said it will launch its initial public offering in Hong Kong tomorrow to raise up to HK$683mil. – AFX-Asia 

SEOUL: (Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd said that it has obtained five orders amounting to US$1.1bil for various types of vessels. 

It secured orders for three LNG carriers from Norway's Bergesen dy ASA, a LNG carrier from Greece's Marangas, three large oil tankers from Greece's Gulf Marine Management SA, two ships from Saudi Arabia's Vela International Marine Ltd and two bulk vessels from Korea Line. 

Those contracts bring the company's total orders so far this year to US$2.9bil or 31 vessels, equivalent to 88% of its yearly target of US$3.3bil. – AFX-Asia 

PARIS: Societe Generale has launched talks to acquire stakes in the investment banking and mutual fund divisions of State Bank of India, the largest banking group in the country, the Financial Times reported. 

Bankers familiar with the situation said SocGen has held exploratory talks about an investment in SBI Capital, SBI's investment banking arm. SocGen's discussions about a stake in SBI Mutual Fund are thought to be more advanced. – AFX-Asia

Speaking at a conference on the 60th anniversary of the Bretton Woods agreements, Rato said although there are no immediate plans to change the forecast, there is “more risk” of this being revised higher than lower. – AFX-Asia