Panasonic factory

PANASONIC Corp. is considering selling a Chinese plant that makes security cameras in a deal it hopes will fetch over US$450 million, the Nikkei has reported.

Panasonic is looking to close first-round bidding in early April, and potential buyers include U.S. equity fund Carlyle Group and British funds Permira and CVC Capital Partners, the Nikkei said, without citing sources. Panasonic expects to gain over 50 billion yen (US$468 million) from selling the plant in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, money that could be used in its other key businesses such as automotive batteries, the Nikkei said. The firm may end talks if it does not receive an agreeable bid, the Nikkei added.

Overseas plant

BATTERY maker Tianneng Group is considering setting up a factory in South or Southeast Asia to tap into local demand, while expanding capacity in China by 20 percent this year because of the electric vehicle boom, its chairman has said.

Zhang Tianren said that Tianneng, which mostly makes lead-acid batteries used in electric scooters and cars, was considering Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan and Bangladesh as destinations for a plant with an annual processing capacity of at least 100,000 tons.

HNA sells HK site

HNA Group is selling a land parcel in Hong Kong to local developer Wheelock for US$811.1 million, the latest in a string of global asset disposals to ease its liquidity crunch.

The aviation-to-financial services conglomerate is racing to raise cash following a US$50-billion acquisition spree over the past two years, which has sparked scrutiny of its opaque ownership and use of leverage.