Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday sought to assuage concerns over Chinese investment in Europe, saying China has no intention to "buy" the continent, The Wall Street Journal reported. At a business forum in the southern province of Guangdong during a state visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr. Wen said China is "willing to cooperate with Europe to fight the current crisis." "Some people say this means China wants to buy Europe. This is a concern and doesn't fit reality,'' he added. "China doesn't have this intention, and doesn't have this ability." Mr.

Chinese carmaker Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile has made a 3 billion crowns ($446 million) offer for bankrupt Swedish group Saab which has drawn a cool response from receivers, a source with knowledge of the situation said on Friday, Reuters reported. The receivers want bids for parts of Saab rather than the whole business as that would raise more for creditors, the source said. Saab was declared bankrupt last December after months of efforts to keep it afloat by owner Swedish Automobile. "Youngman made an offer for all of Saab on Monday.

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said Thursday that China would consider working with the International Monetary Fund to help shore up Europe’s finances. But he left unclear whether China was willing to drop conditions that so far have made its proposed help unappealing to European nations, the International Herald Tribune reported. While Chinese leaders have pledged not to link political demands to financial investments, they have sought concessions, such as getting the European Union to relax trade strictures against low-cost Chinese goods. Mr.

China's Premier Wen Jiabao said the nation's government debt is at an "overall safe and controllable" level, that funding for key projects would be ensured and that applying the brakes to the economy would be done in a way to avoid systemic risks, Reuters reported. Wen's comments, reported in the official People's Daily on Monday, were made in a speech dating back to early January at the government's flagship financial work conference. Wen pledged to contain and defuse local government debt risks and avoid the spread of financial risks.

China’s banking regulator is weighing a plan to relax capital requirements for lenders after the world’s second-largest economy expanded at the slowest pace in 10 quarters, four people with knowledge of the matter said, Bloomberg reported. The China Banking Regulatory Commission is delaying implementing the most stringent capital adequacy ratios and may lower risk weightings for loans to small businessmen and companies, the people said, declining to be identified as the matter is confidential.

Chinese group Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile could make a fresh bid for failed Swedish carmaker Saab next week, sources with knowledge of the situation said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Saab was declared bankrupt by a Swedish court in December after protracted rescue efforts by owner Swedish Automobile. A key stumbling block was the refusal of former owner General Motors to allow its technology, which underpins Saab cars, to fall into Youngman's hands.

Walk softly. Global growth looks to be smoothly downshifting as China slows, the U.S. economy firms, and troubled Europe, at least for now, avoids a messy crash, Reuters reported. Ratings downgrades on nine euro zone countries by Standard & Poor's late Friday - including France, Italy and Spain - sent a shiver through financial markets. But the move was long telegraphed, likely limiting any spillover. A global economy slowing only gently would be an immense relief after a fraught end to 2011, but it is far from guaranteed.

Argentine supermarket chain Eki is in talks to sell about 25 of its large format stores to China's Yonghui Superstores Co., according to a person familiar with the matter, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported. "They already export wine and other [Argentine] products to China and are interested in expanding outside of China," said an Eki executive, who asked not to be named because of the confidential nature of the talks.

China's banking regulator took new steps to clamp down on risks in the financial sector, even as a report from Standard & Poor's said political considerations might force authorities to grant banks some leeway on loans to local governments, The Wall Street Journal reported. The China Banking Regulatory Commission on Thursday said it has told trust companies, which are lightly regulated investment vehicles, to stop selling investment products backed by commercial paper held by banks.

Sino-Forest Corp., the Chinese timber company fending off allegations of fraud, said it reached a waiver agreement with bondholders, reducing the risk of bankruptcy, Bloomberg reported. Holders of a majority in principal of its senior notes due 2014 and 2017 agreed to waive the default arising from the company’s failure to release its third-quarter financial results on time, Hong Kong- and Mississauga, Ontario-based Sino-Forest said today in a statement.