Asia

The story of Frontier Mining is one of an amazing turnaround. Jane Bordenave finds out how the company went from bust to boom in just 12 months.

While it is listed on the London Stock Exchange, Frontier Mining is in fact a Kazakh mineral exploration and development operation that has been working in Kazakhstan since 1998. It is involved in gold and copper mining and was bought in 2009 by a group of investors led by entrepreneur Erlan Sagadiev.

Camco International Limited, a global developer of emission reduction and clean energy projects, has announced a joint venture agreement with Khazanah Nasional, the investment holding arm of the Government of Malaysia.

UK mobile phone giant Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile operator by revenue, has announced the sale of its 3.2 per cent stake in China Mobile for around £4.3 billion.

The sale is the first of what is expected to be several sales of minority holdings as part of Newbury-based Vodafone’s strategy to focus on core markets as it tries to improve its share price.

The buyers of the stake, of which it is thought there may be several, have not been identified.

The government of Liberia has embarked upon a $1.6 billion palm oil project with Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), the subsidiary of Singapore palm oil producer Golden VerOleum.

The 25-year concession granted by the government, which is believed to be one of the biggest investments in Liberian agriculture, will create some 35,000 jobs in the south-eastern regions of the country.

Retailers from Europe and Asia are in an auction battle for the south-east Asian assets of the French supermarket chain Carrefour.

The French company put the stores on the market after a strategic decision to withdraw from Asian countries where it stood no chance of becoming market leader.

The portfolio consists of 40 supermarkets in Thailand, 19 in Malaysia and two in Singapore; and is expected to fetch around €780 million.

Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd, China's largest maker of solar panels, has signed a deal to develop solar plants in South Africa with up to 100 megawatts in capacity.

The move comes as South Africa looks to increase its clean energy output, as well as boost manufacturing and infrastructure as its seeks to broaden its economic appeal beyond its wealth of natural resources.

The total investment required for building a 100 megawatt solar power plant is estimated to be between $350 million and $400 million.

Chinese telecoms equipment maker ZTE has won a €200 million contract to build a mobile network for Telenor in Hungary, it has been announced.

The deal further cements the Chinese company’s position as a key supplier to European telecoms operators.

Under the terms of the contract, ZTE will build a mobile network for as many as 4.5 million users for Telenor in Hungary. It will provide the European carrier with radio and core infrastructure over the next five years.

Since the liberalisation of trade in India, MMTC has flourished and grown, but the journey to success hasn’t been easy. Marketing director Sunir Khurana explains to Gay Sutton how the company has become the country’s largest non-oil importer and the largest exporter of minerals.

Srinivash Singh is managing director of McNally Bharat Engineering Company Ltd, one of India’s leading diversified engineering companies. Here, he talks to Jayne Flannery about the company’s meteoric growth.