BizChina

Haier Group, the world's biggest refrigerator and washing machine maker by volume, said Japanese demand will help sustain sales-growth "momentum" this year after revenue grew more than 10 percent in 2009.

The appliance maker, based in Qingdao, eastern China, forecast rising sales in Japan as consumers in the world's second-biggest economy are increasingly "putting value at the same level as branding", President of Asia Pacific operations Philip Carmichael said in an interview in Hong Kong.

Shanda Games Ltd., a Chinese online gaming company, said Tuesday it will acquire US-based Mochi Media, Inc., in its latest move to expand worldwide.

Shanghai-based Shanda said in a statement that it expects the acquisition of the San Francisco-based games platform to widen its global distribution.

The acquisition involves $60 million in cash and $20 million in shares, it said.

Mochi Media's network of more than 140 million monthly active users, and its more than 15,000 browser-based games, were key attractions, Shanda said.

"This transaction positions Shanda Games to become a truly global online game media platform," Diana Li, CEO of Shanda Games, said in the statement.

The announcement followed news last week that Shanda was acquiring Shanghai-based Goldcool Games, which operates the online multiplayer games "Hades Realm" and "Dukes and Lords."

Just after Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, opened in Dubai on Jan 4, a group of Wenzhou investors of Zhejiang province is planning a trip to the coastal city, looking to buy some discounted properties.

"When they learned of such an opportunity to visit Dubai, more than 20 members expressed an interest in joining the visiting group," Zhou Dewen, head of the Wenzhou SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) Business Development and Promotion Association, was quoted as saying by Tuesday's China Daily.

"Although the economy there has not revived yet, we believe big business opportunities exist not only in property, but also in export trading," he added.

Zhou's visiting group is sensing the recovery of Dubai after the completion of the world's tallest building.

"The air-ticket bookings to Dubai have nearly doubled compared to the same period in 2009, a remarkable growth beyond our expectation," said Michael Peng, sales manager with Shanghai Business International Travel Service Co.

The bilateral trade volume reached a historical high of 1.376 billion U.S. dollars during the first 11 months of last year, up 12.4 percent over the same period of the previous year, said Chen, adding that China's imports from Ethiopia during that period rose 202 percent to over 200 million dollars.

During his talks with Sufian Ahmed, Ethiopia's minister of finance and economic development, the Chinese minister said China's investment in Ethiopia had accumulated to 138 million dollars in areas like textile, daily necessities, machinery, glass, building materials and leather.

By the end of November last year, Chinese firms in Ethiopia had accumulated a turnover of engineering contracts with nearly 4 billion dollars, said Chen, who arrived here on Monday for a two-day visit.