BizChina

The LV Shanghai flagship store opens on April 28, 2010.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, often dubbed the Oracle of Omaha, has seen the future of fashion in the most unlikely of places, bearing a "Made in China" label better known for its cheap than chic.

"I threw away the rest of my suits," beams Buffett in the 2007 video, adding that he and Microsoft founder Bill Gates are fans of Chinese suit maker Trands and would be great salesmen for the company based in the northeast Chinese city of Dalian.

Trands is one of a handful of emerging Chinese brands that someday hope to take on the likes of Gucci, Armani and Prada in the lucrative luxury goods market.

A top South Korean diplomat to China has said that China and South Korea are likely to launch negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA) next year, a move Chinese analysts said will help reshape trade in East Asia.

Yu Woo-ik, South Korea's ambassador to China, told China Daily in an exclusive interview that the two Asian nations "are expected to initiate official FTA talks in 2011", after a four-year feasibility study among governments, industrial associations and academies from the two countries was wrapped up recently.

Japan, China and South Korea have the largest, second-largest and fourth-largest economies in Asia, accounting for about 70 percent of the Asian economy and 18.6 percent of the global economy.

The free trade zone, if established, will hold a consumer population of 1.5 billion. It will be the third-largest economic area in the world, only after the North American Free Trade Agreement and the European Union.

A group led by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd has offered to buy Electricite de France SA's UK power networks unit for 5.8 billion pounds ($9.1 billion).

The group includes Cheung Kong unit Hongkong Electric Holdings Ltd and the Li Ka-shing Foundation, according to a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Friday. The offer is subject to approval by the seller and European Union regulators.

The deal follows a series of investments by Asia's second- richest man in gas, water and road assets in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom to counter price curbs in Hong Kong's power market. Shares in Cheung Kong Infrastructure rose the most in eight and a half months in Hong Kong after a trading halt was lifted.

Li Shufu (center), chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Co, arrives for a news conference in Beijing earlier this year. The Geely-Volvo deal has won approval from the Chinese government.

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co is expected to complete it takeover of Swedish luxury car brand Volvo from US automaker Ford Motor Co on Monday after getting government approval for the deal.

Ministry of Commerce officials told China Daily on Thursday that the government cleared the Volvo deal on Monday 26, after the National Development and Reform Commission cleared the proposal last week.

Geely has also got the necessary anti-trust approvals from the European Union and the US government for the deal.

"With this the decks are now clear for Geely to complete its acquisition of Volvo and start manufacturing the brand in China," said Wang Zhile, director of the research center on transnational corporations under the Ministry of Commerce.

Yuan Xiaolin, Geely's spokesman for the Volvo deal was unavailable on Thursday for comment. However, unnamed sources from Geely told China Daily that the Zhejiang-based automaker will hold a formal function on Monday to complete the deal.

Geely's shares surged nearly 11.32 percent and closed at HK$2.95 per share in Hong Kong on Thursday.