Life Insurance

SYDNEY, Australia, Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- A round-up of Asian stock markets prepared by Asia Pulse (http://www.asiapulse.com ), the real-time, Asia-based wire with exclusive news, commecial intelligence and business opportunities.

SYDNEY - Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO - News ) is spending $US1.35 billion to expand its iron ore operations in Western Australia amid continued strong demand for the raw material. Rio Tinto chief executive Leigh Clifford said the expansion would take the capacity of the group's ports in Western Australia's Pilbara region to close to 200 million tonnes on completion at the end of 2007. The expansion comes as iron ore producers move to boost production to take advantage of surging demand from Asia, especially China.

NEW DELHI - India's largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (NSI:TCS) has won a US$847 million deal from the UK-based insurance company Pearl Group. The deal will be executed over a period of 12 years, a company spokesperson said. Under the deal TCS will take over the entire business processes of Pearl and 950 employees in the UK.

BEIJING - A five-year economic blueprint proposed by the Communist Party of China (CPC) has set a goal to double the nation's 2000 per capita gross domestic product (GDP) by 2010. Asia's second biggest economy, largely driven by strong investment and exports, expanded at 9.5% in the first six months of the year. The CPC Central Committee's Proposal for Formulating the 11th Five-Year Program (2006-10) for National Economic and Social Development also stresses fast and stable economic growth. The proposal warns that the bottleneck in land, water, energy resources and environmental protection is posing a severe threat to China's economy.

BEIJING - New York Life Insurance Co plans to expand its operations in the Chinese market in coming years by targeting a growing middle class prospering from the nation's rapid economic growth. Sy Sternberg, chairman and chief executive officer of the US' largest mutual life insurer, dismissed protectionist views expressed by some US congressmen, saying closer bilateral economic ties will benefit not just the Chinese economy, but also Americans. The company currently has a 50/50 life insurance joint venture with Haier Group - Haier New York Life - in Shanghai.

SHANGHAI - CITIC Trust and Investment Co., Ltd. has become the new partner of German insurance giant Allianz in its life insurance joint venture in China, Allianz Dazhong Life Insurance Co., Ltd., according to a source with the joint venture. Allianz Dazhong Life Insurance Co., Ltd., with a registered capital of 200 million yuan (US$24.7 million) and opening to business in Shanghai in 1999, was jointly founded by Allianz Group and China's Dazhong Insurance Co., Ltd., in which the German side holds 51% and the Chinese side 49 per cent. Now, CITIC Trust, under the flag of CITIC Group, has taken over the interest held by Dazhong.

TOKYO - Seibu Railway Co. said Tuesday that U.S. investment fund Cerberus Group and Nikko Principal Investments Japan Ltd. will provide about 160 billion yen (US$1.4 billion) to Kokudo Corp., a core company of the railway group. "The two firms made proposals full of insightful suggestions to enhance the corporate value of the Seibu group as business partners," Seibu Railway President Takashi Goto told reporters, explaining why the group decided on the two companies. The Seibu Railway group, which also includes Prince Hotels Inc., has been considering a capital boost as part of its restructuring plans.

TOKYO - Two major paint producers will soon start manufacturing automotive coatings in Guangzhou to meet the growing demand from Japanese carmakers located there. Nippon Paint Co. (TSE:4612 - News ) is setting up a production line at its Guangzhou facility with capacity to manufacture 5,800 tons of automotive coating materials to cater to Honda Motor Co.'s (TSE:7267 - News ) plant there. Operations are expected to begin as early as November. The firm is also building a plant dedicated to the production of electro-coating materials and another factory to make plastic materials. Nippon Paint's investment in the coastal city is expected to reach nearly 3 billion yen (US$26.3 million).

NAGOYA - Toyota Motor Corp. (TSE:7203 - News ) announced that it has agreed with Chinese firm Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. to strengthen the annual production capacity of their car engine joint venture in Guangdong Province from the current 300,000 units to 500,000. The capacity hike at Guangqi Toyota Engine Co. will be achieved by building a second production line at the venture's existing factory site at a cost of around 25 billion yen (US$219 million). The new line is expected to start manufacturing engine parts in mid-2006 and engines later that year.

SYDNEY - Woolworths Ltd (ASX:WOW - News ) has lifted its first quarter sales by 14.5% but cautioned that high petrol prices were having an impact on discretionary purchases. Australia's biggest supermarket chain today affirmed its earnings guidance for the 2005/06 year after reporting sales of $A8.88 billion ($US6.63 billion) for the first quarter, a total increase of 14.4%. Sales from continuing operations were up 14.5% in the 14 weeks to October 2, which Woolworths managing director Roger Corbett described as solid.

MANILA - The Philippine government has posted a budget deficit slightly higher than programmed for September, but it managed to stay below the ceiling set for the first nine months of the year. National Treasurer Omar Cruz said the budget deficit for September reached P27.7 billion (US$496.8 million), higher by P2.7 billion than the amount programmed for the month, but still lower than the P30.8 billion incurred in the same period last year. Cruz said despite the higher deficit incurred, the national government was still ahead of its program by P37.4 billion with the January to September funding gap reaching only P108.5 billion.

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