HONG KONG, Feb 10 (Reuters) – SMIC <0981.HK>, China’s biggest contract chipmaker, on Wednesday unveiled an overhaul of its top management, as it moves toward a goal of sustained profitability after the recent installation of a new chief executive.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) <SMI.N> has posted net losses for the last 14 quarters, as it struggles to gain the scale necessary to compete with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) <2330.TW> and United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) <2303.TW>, the world’s top two contract chipmakers.

On Wednesday, it posted its latest quarterly loss of $482 million, which included a $300 million charge related to the settlement of a long-running dispute with TSMC that will see the Taiwan company become an SMIC shareholder.

With the result, SMIC also announced an overhaul of its top management, including the naming of a new chief financial officer and operating officer. Those follow the departure of SMIC’s longtime founder and CEO Richard Chang late last year, and his replacement by David Wang, a chip industry veteran.

NEW DELHI/HONG KONG (Reuters) – More than a month after putting its biggest global assets up for sale, India’s Reliance Communications <RLCM.BO> has found few callers for a package that includes its prized FLAG undersea cable network.

Sources close to the deal said Reliance Comm had already extended an initial deadline of late-January for submissions once, but had still attracted little interest for the deal seeking $3 billion.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

One source said Singapore Technologies Telemedia – which owns stakes in Singapore’s StarHub <STAR.SI> and undersea cable operator Global Crossing <GLBC.O> — is contemplating a bid.

NEW DELHI/HONG KONG, Feb 2 (Reuters) – More than a month after putting its biggest global assets up for sale, India’s Reliance Communications <RLCM.BO> has found few callers for a package that includes its prized FLAG undersea cable network.

Sources close to the deal said Reliance Comm had already extended an initial deadline of late-January for submissions once, but had still attracted little interest for the deal seeking $3 billion.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

One source said Singapore Technologies Telemedia – which owns stakes in Singapore’s StarHub <STAR.SI> and undersea cable operator Global Crossing <GLBC.O> — is contemplating a bid.

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Corporate technology spending in Asia has begun to bounce back following the global recession, but buyers are still cautious and recovery will likely be slow, the head of Hitachi’s data storage division said.

“We see IT spending continuing to recover, but slowly,” Kevin Eggleston, Asia-Pacific head of Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), one of the world’s top five makers of data storage equipment, told Reuters in an interview late on Friday.

“We’re clearly seeing a U-shaped recovery on the IT side, not a V-shaped one,” he said, adding that most major companies were still cautious about technology spending.

Hitachi Data Systems competes with the likes of EMC Corp, Hewlett-Packard and IBM in making the systems companies use to store the massive amounts of data they generate.

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – While South Korea’s Hyundai Motor looks best placed to pick up U.S. sales from Toyota’s massive safety recall, rival car makers may scent blood in the fast-growing Chinese and Indian markets.

Hyundai’s rising reputation for its quality cars, fuel efficiency and prices, is expected to see it win buyers from Toyota customers fretting over the world No.1 automaker’s latest recall.

But in China, now the world’s biggest autos market, other rival brands strong on fuel efficiency and quality, such as Volkswagen, Honda Motor and Nissan Motor, could also eat into Toyota’s around 7 percent market share, analysts said.

Some fast growing Chinese and Indian firms may also pick up share from Toyota in their home markets, though their cheaper, lower quality models appeal to a different group of buyers.

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI, Jan 28 (Reuters) – While South Korea’s Hyundai Motor <005380.KS> looks best placed to pick up U.S. sales from Toyota’s <7203.T> massive safety recall, rival car makers may scent blood in the fast-growing Chinese and Indian markets.

Hyundai’s rising reputation for its quality cars, fuel efficiency and prices, is expected to see it win buyers from Toyota customers fretting over the world No.1 automaker’s latest recall. [ID:nSGE60R06P]

But in China, now the world’s biggest autos market, other rival brands strong on fuel efficiency and quality, such as Volkswagen <VOWG.DE>, Honda Motor <7267.T> and Nissan Motor <7201.T>, could also eat into Toyota’s around 7 percent market share, analysts said.

Some fast growing Chinese and Indian firms may also pick up share from Toyota in their home markets, though their cheaper, lower quality models appeal to a different group of buyers.

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Mattel Inc, the world’s leading toymaker, said it has seen very strong sales for its Christmas hit Fashionista Barbie doll following a recent revamp of its 50-year-old mainstay product.

The U.S. company, whose products also include Hot Wheels cars and Fisher-Price toys, has sold “more than hundreds of thousands” of Fashionista Barbie, one of the industry’s hot toys this holiday season, Stephanie Cota, senior vice-president of Barbie marketing, told Reuters on Tuesday.

“Sales were off the shelf,” Cota said in an interview at Mattel’s Hong Kong offices. “Internally, we knew we had something.”

The strong sales follow a 2008 overhaul for Mattel’s iconic bestseller — Barbie celebrated her 50th birthday last year — aimed at unifying the brand and making the dolls more relevant for today’s girls.

HONG KONG, Jan 8 (Reuters) – IBM <IBM.N> said on Friday it has formed a technology financing venture in China in connection with chipmaker AMD <AMD.N>, aiming to build an operation with hundreds of millions of dollars in assets in its first year.

The venture, to be based in the northeast city of Tianjin, will be IBM’s first in China to engage in a service known as factoring, where companies hand over their receivables for goods already sold in exchange for cash.

Factoring companies typically provide cash worth less than the full value of the receiveables, earning their cut when the money finally comes in from the customer.

Initially, the new venture would provide factoring financing in China for AMD, an IBM supplier. It could eventually extend that service to AMD’s distributors and other business partners in the country, said John Callies, general manager of IBM Global Financing.

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s ports to telecoms conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa <0013.HK> will pay HK$4.2 billion ($538 million) to privatize its emerging telecoms unit, Hutchison Telecom <2332.HK> at a 33 percent premium to the firm’s last trading price.

The offer to buy Hutchison Telecom <2332.HK> shares for HK$2.2 each sent the company’s stock up 29 percent to HK$2.1 in early trade on Friday, following a four-day suspension after the privatization bid was announced.

The privatization would mark the re-integration of the company back into its parent, following the divestiture of three of its key assets in the last three years.

Hutchison Telecom shares had last traded at HK$1.65 per share ahead of the suspension.

HONG KONG, Jan 8 (Reuters) – Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s ports to telecoms conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa <0013.HK> will pay HK$4.2 billion ($538 million) to privatise its emerging telecoms unit, Hutchison Telecom <2332.HK> at a 33 percent premium to the firm’s last trading price.

The offer to buy Hutchison Telecom <2332.HK> shares for HK$2.2 each sent the company’s stock up 29 percent to HK$2.1 in early trade on Friday, following a four-day suspension after the privatisation bid was announced.

The privatisation would mark the re-integration of the company back into its parent, following the divestiture of three of its key assets in the last three years.

Hutchison Telecom shares had last traded at HK$1.65 per share ahead of the suspension.