Company briefs: Huawei

Huawei Technologies plans to sell budget-brand smartphone unit Honor in a 100 billion yuan (S$20.4 billion) deal to a consortium led by handset distributor Digital China and the government of Shenzhen, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The plan comes as United States restrictions on supplying Huawei force the world's second-biggest smartphone maker to focus on high-end handsets and corporate-oriented business, the people said.

The all-cash sale will include almost all assets including brand, research and development capabilities and supply chain management.

REUTERS

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ARA

Singapore-based ARA Asset Management has purchased Parc1 Tower II - an office building in Seoul - for more than one trillion Korean won (S$1.2 billion), in a deal slated to be the largest single-asset transaction in South Korea this year.

Located within Yeouido business district, the property is one of the two newly constructed office towers within the Parc1 mixed-use complex designed by architect Richard Rogers, ARA said in a press statement on Tuesday. Currently the fifth-tallest office building in Seoul, it comprises 53 storeys and has a gross floor area of 162,216 sq m.

THE BUSINESS TIMES

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Toshiba

Engineering giant Toshiba will not build any more coal-fired power plants and will shift to renewable energy in a bid to reduce greenhouse emissions, the firm's president said yesterday.

But none of its existing coal-power construction projects will be scrapped, said the firm, which has around 10 under way worldwide. "We will stop accepting new orders to build coal-fired plants, and seek to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2030," Toshiba president Nobuaki Kurumatani told reporters, adding that the firm will increase investment in renewable energy.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE