Seoul asked to amend takeover rulesThe top economic advisor to South Korean President-elect Kim Dae-Jung said that Seoul should scrap the last remaining regulations on hostile takeovers by foreigners. "Foreign countries resent the required permission from the board of directors when they want to acquire 33.3 per cent or more of equity shares," You Jong-Keun told journalists."Regulations on hostile takeovers by foreigners must be further eased," he said. You, who has been pushing Seoul's efforts to open up its market, is expected to become the top economic policy setter under the new government. Kim Dae-Jung takes office on Feburary 25.Seoul has raised the ceiling for foreigners to buy equity shares without an approval from the boards of directors from the current 10 per cent to 33.3 per cent of equity shares. Analysts here said because of the measure, two foreign investors would be enough to buy a local firm by joining their equity shares. Foreigners were recently allowed to jointly buy asmuch as 55 per cent of equity shares.Japan bank downgraded by Moody'sInternational ratings agency Moody's Investors Service said it had downgraded the ratings outlook for Industrial Bank of Japan Ltd. to negative from stable. Moody's said in a statement here that the change was prompted by uncertainty regarding the bank's asset quality owing to its exposure to Southeast Asia and because of the slowing Japanese economy.Japan's Finance and banking sector has been severely shaken in the past months as worries grow over the domestic economy and exposure to crisis-hit Asian countries.Matsushita to set up new manufacturing venture in ChinaJapan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. said it would set up a joint venture in eastern China to produce and sell rice cookers with microcomputer-controlled software. The world's largest consumer electronics company will establish the venture, Hangzhou Matsushita Kitchen Appliances Co. Ltd., in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, with two Chinesefirms.Matsushita will hold a 55 per cent stake in the joint venture, to be capitalised at 760 million yen ($6 million), it said in a statement.Hangzhou Chengfeng Electric Appliance Corp. will own 30 per cent and Shun Hing China Investment Ltd. 15 per cent. Production will start in September 1988. Output is estimated to reach 210, 000 Units in the year to March 2000 with 110 employees.Matsushita said China's position as the world's biggest rice consumer meant there was a promising market for the cookers.
