(futuris China Move)

The Age

Thursday March 25, 1993

Futuris China move The manufacturing conglomerate Futuris Corporation announced yesterday that its wholly owned subsidiary, Air International Pty Ltd, had entered a deal to establish a automotive heating and air-conditioning manufacturing joint venture in China. The joint venture with China's Radiator Corporation will supply components and services to the First Automobile Works-Volkswagen joint venture recently established in Changchun, China, which will produce Volkswagens and Audis. Chinese Government approval is expected.

Coal demand to grow: CRA On the eve of his company's $716 million bid for the coalminer Coal and Allied Ltd, CRA's chief executive, Mr John Ralph, has painted a bullish picture of coal demand in Asia for the next two decades at least. Mr Ralph told the Second World Coal Conference in London last night that Asian economic growth would fuel the growth in coal demand while European coal production would inevitably decline. ``Work done by CRA indicates global demand for traded steaming coal is likely to grow strongly throughout this decade," he said.

Bundesbank calms worries The Bundesbank held a key money-market rate unchanged today and calmed financial market worries that it was about to abandon its policy of gradual reductions in official German interest rates. The central bank allocated securities repurchase funds to banks at a minimum 8.25 per cent, unchanged from the rate at which it had fed the market over the past two weeks.

Societies unlikely to convert Friendly societies are unlikely to follow IOOF, Australia's largest society, in its plan to convert to a life office. The managing director of the Over 50s, Mr Dennis Cartwright, said the ethic of mutuality was the greatest asset of friendly societies. The Over 50s is Australia's second largest society, and its fastest growing.