China COSCO makes sole Piraeus bid

    CHINESE shipping and port giant China COSCO Holding Co. on Tuesday made a binding offer for a majority stake in the long-delayed privatization of Greece’s main port of Piraeus, a move that is expected to earn cash-strapped Athens hundreds of millions of euros and turn the Mediterranean port into a logistics hub for Chinese exports to Europe.

    The Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund, which handles Greece’s state asset sales, didn’t reveal the value of the bid, but gave China COSCO a week to make a better offer. Two other shortlisted investors — APM Terminals and Philippines-based port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. — didn’t submit binding bids.

    Zhejiang Hisun draws 61 complaints of flaws

    A SHANGHAI-LISTED pharmaceutical supplier now banned from sending some products to the United States was the target of a “significant number” of drugmaker complaints about the potency and purity of its ingredients, government records in the United States show.

    Drug manufacturers lodged at least 61 complaints against Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical Co., a maker of key components for drugs ranging from cholesterol to cancer treatments, between 2012 and 2014, according to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration warning letter sent to the company Dec. 31.

    6 foreign institutions get interbank market nod

    CHINA has allowed a second batch of foreign institutions to enter China’s interbank foreign exchange market, the country’s central bank said Tuesday.

    Six central banks and international financial institutions, including Reserve Bank of India, Monetary Authority of Singapore and Bank of International Settlements, are now allowed to trade spot products, forwards, swaps, currency swaps and options in China’s domestic foreign exchange market, it said. Last November, the first seven foreign institutions had been registered to enter the interbank foreign exchange market.

    PetroChina-Chevron gas project begins production

    PETROCHINA Co. and Chevron began production at an onshore natural gas field in China’s southwest at the end of 2015 after years of delays.

    The Luojiazhai field, whose A well began operating Dec. 30, has an annual production capacity of 3 billion cubic meters of gas, said China National Petroleum Corp., PetroChina’s parent.