A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Almost €20m finance approved for Treasury's subsidiary in China

The China subsidiary of property group Treasury Holdings, Treasury China Trust, says Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has approved terms for the provision of €19.44 million (170 million yuan) in development finance for its Beijing Logistics Park project, writes Clifford Coonan. The funding will allow construction to get under way in the first quarter of 2011, the group said in a statement yesterday.

Treasury China Trust has about €1.14 billion in assets. The group has a strong relationship with local banks in China, highlighted by the deal with Industrial and Commercial Bank.

Nama is not required to sign off on any deals done because Treasury’s property interests in China are held through its shareholding in Treasury China Trust, a Singapore-based trust in which Treasury Holdings has about a 30 per cent stake.

Fall in German jobless figures

German unemployment fell less than expected in November, data showed yesterday, but economists expected the labour market in Europe’s largest economy to show further improvement in the coming months.

The number of unemployed in seasonally adjusted terms fell by 9,000 from the previous month, leaving the jobless rate unchanged at 7.5 per cent, official data showed. A poll had pointed to a drop of 20,000.

“I would have expected a stronger decline after the strong upturn. Nevertheless the recovery is continuing,” said Lothar Hessler at HSBC Trinkaus.

On an unadjusted basis, the number out of work fell by 14,000 to a total of 2.931 million. – (Reuters)

Shell and Gazprom form alliance

Royal Dutch Shell and Gazprom have formed a strategic alliance little more than three years after an acrimonious dispute in which the multinational was forced to cede control of the giant Sakhalin II oil and gas project to the Russian company.

The deal will pave the way for two of the world’s biggest gas companies to deepen co- operation in Russia and work together in other countries.

The agreement, signed in Moscow yesterday, signals a recognition at the Russian company that it needs foreign allies to help globalise its business. It said this week, however, that new opportunities in Russia would be available only to firms willing to share upstream assets elsewhere. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010)