Altech unit acquires digital decoder plant

South Africa's Allied Technologies Ltd (Altech) said on Monday its digital softawre subsidiary UEC Commercial was acquiring RC&C Manufacturing's digital decoder manufacturing plant with effect from July 31. Altech chief executive Craig Venter said in a statement the acquisition would enable South Africa to compete more effectively in the increasingly competitive global digital decoder market. The statement did not disclose the amount paid for the plant. The entire production line would be moved from Parow, nearCape Town, to Altech's KwaZulu-Natal factory, and satelllite television company Multichoice had already placed "significant orders for digital decoders with UEC", it said.

Nippon Steel Semicon to make 64MB DRAM: Nippon Steel Semiconductor Corp said that the Japanese chip maker will start producing and selling next generation 64-megabit dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips in the latter half of the 1998/99 business year. Nippon Steel Semiconductor said in a statement that the company and another semiconductor equipment company, which are both in the Nippon Steel Corp group, would invest a total of 17 billion yen for 64-megabit DRAM chip production. Nippon Steel Semiconductor said it would upgrade a production line at its chip production facility to produce the next-generation DRAM chips.

Telstra refocuses data division: Telecommunications group Telstra Corp Ltd said on Tuesday it would refocus its data division towards customer solutions and away from product based services and rename the division Fractal. Telstra Retail Products group managing director Lindsay Yelland said the move acknowledged both the rapid growth in demand for data transfer."The data market is growing at about 20 per cent and is ourfastest growing market," Yellard told reporters. Yellard said Australia's data market currently has annual revenue of about A$1.0 billion.

Daewoo wins $110m shipbilding orders: Daewoo Heavy Industries Ltd said on Tuesday it had won $110 million worth of orders to build two crude carriers from Nordstrom & Thulin AB of Sweden. Daewoo Heavy, a shipbuilding affiliate of the Daewoo Group, said it would deliver the 158,000-gross tonnes very large crude carriers (VLCCs) by September 1999. Daewoo said its VLCC orders received so far this yearamounted to one million gross tonnes, valued at $660 million.

AUM says has offer on Maitland shares: Australian Mining Investments Ltd (AUM) said on Tuesday it had received an offer from Tomen Corp to purchase AUM's shares in Maitland Main Collieries Pty Ltd for $15.86 million. The cash offer was conditional on AUM using part of the proceeds to redeem its convertible notes and pay the interest on the notes, AUM said. The effect of deal would be for it to retain $1 million in cash after completing the sale and settling debts associated with the notes. Tomen holds a 50.43-per cent stake in AUM. AUM said any decision would need to be voted on at an extraordinary general meeting.

Total to sign Kuwait support deal: French oil group Total SA is set to sign a technical support deal with the Kuwait Oil Company this week but a spokeswoman could not give details. "It is an important deal for us because a technical support contract is the only way foreign oil companies can operate in Kuwait," she said. Kuwait already has a cooperation deal with Chevron Corp and is in talks with British Petroleum Plc. KOC executive Ahman al-Arbeed said in May that the Total talks involved the southern al-Wafta oil field which has a capacity of 120,000 barrels per day.

M'Bishi Heavy develops efficient thermal generator: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd said on Tuesday that a pair of generators it developed for Tohoku Electric Power Co Inc's thermal power plant will have the world's best thermal efficiency. The two generators be installed at Tohoku Electric's LNG thermal power plant in Niigata, northern Japan, will have a thermal efficiency of about 51.5 per cent, a Mitsubishi Heavy spokesman said. A thermal power plant's thermal efficiency shows how much fossil fuel energy has been turned to electric power. The generators, each with capacity to generate 805,000 kw of electricity, will not start operation until 2000 and 2007.

Dragonair suspends service to Phnom Penh: Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Ltd said on Tuesday it has supended its twice weekly service between Hong Kong and Phnom Penh in Cambodia due to the closure of Phnom Penh's Pochentong Airport. Dragonair said flights KA200 from Hong Kong to Phom Penh and KA201 from Phnom Pehn to Hong Kong which operate on Tuesdays and Saturdays have been temporily suspended. The services will resume when the airport reopens and the airline is completely satisfied it is safe to do so, Dragonair said.

ING shares rise further on US buy: Shares in financial services group ING Groep NV (ING) continued to rise on Tuesday in the wake of its announcement to buy US insurer Equitable Iowa, hitting 103.00 guilders, up 7.40 guilders by 1020 GMT. ING said the takeover offer, which valued the US group at $68 per share, was its largest purchase since the ING group was formed through a merger in 1991. The deal would be financed by existing shares and/or cash and make a positive contribution to earnings per share in the first year, ING added.

Amazon.Com, AOL sign promotional pact: Amazon.Com Inc and America Online Inc said that they agreed to a three-year comprehensive promotional agreement under which Amazon.Com will be the exclusive bookseller on AOL.Com and AOL's NetFind search engine. America Online is to get $19 million over three years, with the possibility of additional payments should Amazon.Com sales revenues exceed thresholds specified in the agreement, a news release issued by the companies said. Under the agreement, Amazon.Com will receive a permanent "above-the-fold" front-screen button on the AOL.Com homepage, the most visited site on the Web, the news release said. This button will link users directly to Amazon.Com, an online bookseller, where they will be able to review and purchase books.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.