Foreign firms’ IPOs

    THE government would steer foreign firms to go public on domestic stock markets as part of a drive to spur foreign investment, the Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday.

    China has repeatedly stated its intention to let overseas companies list locally, but the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges still have no foreign firms.

    Yum profit up

    YUM Brands Inc., operator of the KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut fast-food chains, posted a bigger-than-expected jump in quarterly profit Tuesday, fueled by growth in China, and raised its full-year forecast.

    Worldwide sales at stores open at least one year were up 4 percent, including 12-percent growth from China.

    Citibank new head

    CITIBANK on Tuesday named Andrew Au, a 24-year veteran of the bank, as chairman of Citibank China Co. Ltd.

    Au replaces Richard Stanley, who left the bank in February to head DBS, Southeast Asia’s largest bank. Au was previously regional head of Citibank’s Global Commercial Bank, based in Hong Kong. A Hong Kong citizen, Au will also be chief executive officer of Citibank China with direct responsibility for the financial giant’s businesses and infrastructure in China.

    Huawei’s new deal

    HUAWEI Technologies, China’s top telecom equipment maker, is deploying a commercial network of HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) in Brazil for Claro, a subsidiary of America Movil.

    The network Huawei is building will provide wireless residential broadband services to Claro customers at reduced cost. No financial details were given in the statement. Brazil issued 3G licenses in December and expects investment of US$2.2 billion in the rollout.