China Vanke Co, the country's largest publicly traded property developer, has bought shares worth about 1 billion yuan to give to employees as incentive.

The company bought 49.33 million shares at prices ranging from 20.18 yuan and 21.1 yuan, it said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange yesterday. Vanke rose 1.19 percent to 19.58 yuan in Shenzhen trading on the day.

GRAPEVINE

Regulatory nod

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd has won regulatory approval for an investment banking venture in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post reported, citing the city's securities watchdog.

ICBC International Capital, wholly owned by the lender, will focus on fund-raising deals with a size of HK$1 billion to HK$2 billion, the report said, citing an unidentified source.

The subsidiary aims to encourage large Chinese companies to sell H shares in Hong Kong, starting next year, the report said.

Property sale

Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund plans to sell a majority-owned serviced-apartment property in Shanghai for about 1.1 billion yuan, the South China Morning Post said, citing unidentified property consultants. The fund aims to sell before investment market activities in China shrink further, the report said.

An unidentified company from the Middle East was in talks to buy the property, it said.

The property, located in the city's Xintiandi entertainment and dining area, is 23 percent owned by Hong Kong-listed USI Holdings Ltd, and the fund run by Morgan Stanley owns most of the rest.

BIZ UNUSUAL

Toy hospital

Good news for children with broken toys - they can now take them to a toy hospital. Wang Guangling saw this business opportunity thanks to his daughter, who would often pester him for new toys and throw away the broken ones.

In Wang's toy hospital, 'doctors' with sewing, mechanical or electrical skills fix toys and even teach children how to maintain or repair them.

Getting stuffed

A greater selection of zongzi - pyramidal dumplings made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves - for this year's Dragon Boat Festival.

Emei Restaurant, a longstanding and well-known institution among the capital's foodies, plans to stuff the dumplings with two of its house specialties: spicy diced chicken with peanuts and fried shredded sweet-and-sour pork.

Emei's chefs say the new zongzi are "pretty tasty" and have been welcomed by their customers.

Some other restaurants in Beijing plan to introduce zongzi stuffed with roast duck this year.

Herbal ice cream

A businesswoman in Xiamen, Fujian province, has come up with a unique ice cream tailored for the health-conscious. Wang Huan's low-calorie ice creams come with a mix of herbs such as mint, aloes and ginger. But the key to good taste is striking the right balance of herbs, she says. Wang's ice creams sell for 35 yuan every 100 grams.

LOCAL

Student homecoming

A group of more than 100 returned overseas students traveled to Qinghai province to talk with local enterprises about starting businesses in the province.

The firms come from a broad range of fields, including advanced technologies, pharmaceuticals, energy exploitation, real estate development and environmental protection.

Members of the group say they would try to capitalize on the advantages the province offers in the energy and mineral sectors, and would use their knowledge and experience to help solve urgent local problems, satisfy local people's needs and cultivate integrated cooperation.

Wind power

Four wind power plants, with an annual capacity of 192 million kWh each, will be built in Xinyang, Henan province.

The National Development and Reform Commission has given the province the go-ahead to use about 630 million yuan in loan from the European Investment Bank.

The projects will be located in Dabieshan, Tianmushan, Jigongshan and Huangbaishan. Once completed, they are expected to generate 192 million kWh with an annual income of 166 million yuan.

Water supply

Guizhou province will invest 40 million yuan in underground water exploitation and drilling 126 wells this year, in an effort to ensure the water supply for 600,000 residents.

Guizhou completed drilling 50 wells in 2007, with a daily water supply of 52,000 tons, providing quality water to 417,000 people and 161,000 livestock.

There are still 12 million people in Guizhou getting unsafe drinking water, accounting for 33.3 percent of the province's population.

Industrial park

Shenyang has invested 5 billion yuan to build a 300-hectare renewable-resource industrial park. The project will last four years. The first stage of the project has been completed and will be put into operation in June. The first batch of 52 companies is now preparing to operate in the park and their annual processing capacity is expected to be about 1 million tons. These companies' turnover is about 7 billion yuan annually. On completion, the total turnover of the companies in the park is expected to reach 50 billion yuan.

BIZ MOVE

Legend appointment

Legend Media Inc, a rapidly growing advertising business focused on the Chinese radio market, has announced the appointment of William Lee as chief operating officer.

Based in Shanghai and Beijing, Lee will oversee daily operations designed to ensure Legend Media's success across numerous radio advertising platforms.

(China Daily 06/04/2008 page15)