Asia

The family’s offer to buy back its assets from the company for an estimated $1.4 billion has sent its shares rocketing by nearly 40 percent.

Listed on the London Stock Exchange, Bumi is a leading thermal coal group with interest in the largest coal producing assets in Indonesia. Reaction to the Bakrie family proposal has been overwhelmingly positive with analysts claiming it to be good news for Bumi’s shareholders.

According to said figures, the 13.8 million units shipped by the company in the third quarter of 2012 topped the 13.55 million shipped by Hewlett-Packard.

What the figures also show is that Lenovo was the only PC maker, among the world’s top five producers, to have actually increased its shipments to the US during the third quarter. This is despite global demand for PC’s being hit by the growing popularity of tablet devices.

The world’s largest restaurant company in terms of system units, with nearly 38,000 branches in over 120 countries and territories, Yum’s success during this period can be attributed to its operations in China, which contributed more than half of Yum’s $3.6 billion revenue during the period.

East Asia Minerals (EAS) is proving it is possible to overcome obstacles to mine gold from challenging locations using sound management, local knowledge and a lot of determination.

Led by the continued success of its Galaxy smartphones and tablet devices, the company expects operating profits for the period to come in at $7.3 billion, almost double that of 12 months ago.

Despite Samsung’s high profile issues with Apple dominating the headlines in recent months, smartphone sales, particular of its flagship Galaxy S3 model, continue to drive the business forward.

In what looks to be the conclusion of a long-running saga, shareholders in Singapore-based conglomerate Fraser and Neave have voted to sell its beer business to the company.

The fastest growing market for beer in the world, it comes as little surprise that some of the lobes biggest brewers are increasing turning their attention to Asian nations and identifying them as core growth markets for the future.

Can China overcome its geology and infrastructure problems to become the dominant force in natural gas? And can other economies benefit from the opportunities this might create?

The world's biggest energy user is also one of the world’s worst polluters, due to its heavy reliance on coal and oil. Though China is now also the world's largest installer of wind turbines and the leading builder of nuclear reactors, it’s not enough to meet China’s unquenchable thirst for energy.

The announcement comes as China looks to increase its investments in Afghanistan’s resources sector ahead of the withdrawal of US-led military forces from the country in 2014. In June, the two countries decided to upgrade their ties to the level of a strategic and co-operative partnership.

Increasingly, Afghanistan’s neighbours have been looking to expand their influence in the country.

European pharmacy chain Alliance Boots has signed a strategic deal with China’s Nanjing Pharmaceutical Company, it has been announced.

Under the terms of the deal, Alliance Boots will acquire a 12 per cent stake in Nanjing Pharmaceutical for approximately £56 million (RMB560 million). On completion of the transaction, Alliance Boots will be the second largest shareholder in Nanjing Pharmaceutical with board and operational management representation. Nanjing Pharmaceutical Group Limited will continue to be the largest shareholder in the Chinese company.

A new kind of war is being waged across the global stage—one that is using economics to potentially inflict more damage and devastation than the conflicts we have seen in the past.

By Richard Telofski

War isn't what it used to be. That's a catchy little title to this article, no? But catchy or not, just take a moment to think about that. War is definitely not what it used to be.