SYDNEY, Sept. 21 -- AsiaNet OLYMPIC TIMEKEEPER... BIEL-BIENNE: Swatch has now successfully participated at three Olympic Games as the Official Timekeeper (1996 in Atlanta, 2000 in Sydney and 2004 in Athens, where the company was also responsible for on-venue results systems and integration services), and Swatch Group Ltd. has now decided that its most traditional timekeeping brand worldwide, Omega Ltd., will assume this responsibility. http://www.swatchgroup.ch COUNTDOWN CLOCK... BEIJING: Prestige Swiss watchmaker Omega, Official Timekeeper of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Tuesday unveiled a giant clock in Tiananmen Square that counts the days, hours, minutes and seconds remaining to the Opening Ceremony of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad on August 8th, 2008. http://www.omega.ch AUTO INDUSTRY... BEIJING: Red Book, which provides vehicle identification and pricing information to the auto industry, sees, at first hand, the desperation of some companies to bring their systems and operations to a point where they can keep pace with the rapid change in the auto and associated industries in China. MANAGEMENT BUYOUT... TOKYO: Dalton Investments' Japanese Management Buyout Fund (JMBO) Monday announced that it has accumulated a position in excess of 5 per cent in Teikoku Hormone Mfg. Co., Ltd. and has proposed a friendly management buyout of all outstanding shares for 1,200 yen (US$10.94) per share, a 27 per cent premium over last Friday's (September 17, 2004) closing price. MOU SIGNED... NEW YORK: Refco Group Ltd., LLC, a world leader in providing risk management and investment services, Monday announced that Refco Forex Limited has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hantec Investment Holdings Limited, whose shares are listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. http://www.refco.com NIKE RESULTS... BEAVERTON, Ore.: NIKE, Inc. Monday released financial results for its first quarter ended August 31, 2004, which showed that its revenues increased 18 per cent on-year to US$3.6 billion while net income rose to $326.8 million from $261.2 in the same quarter a year earlier. http://www.nikebiz.com FANNIE MAE... WASHINGTON, D.C.: Fannie Mae will redeem the principal amount of 15 securities issues amounting to a total of US$604 million on Sept 30, 2004 at a redemption price equal to 100 per cent of the principal amount redeemed plus accrued interest. http://www.fanniemae.com SYSTEM CONTROLLERS... SUNNYVALE, Calif.: Marvell, a technology leader in the development of extreme broadband communications and storage solutions, Monday announced the Discovery LT, a high-performance, cost-effective system controller solution for high volume laser-printers, storage networking and other mass market applications. http://www.marvell.com ONLINE SUBSCRIPTION... LONDON: Inpharmatica Ltd Monday announced that it has signed a non-exclusive Biopendium Online subscription with Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, one of Japan's leading international drug companies. http://www.inpharmatica.com http://www.chugai-pharm.co.jp IHS ACQUIRES... ENGLEWOOD, Colo. and VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.: Information Handing Services Inc., the leading international provider of content integration and decision support tools, technical standards, codes and product specifications, parts management and logistics solutions, Monday announced that it has acquired USA Information Systems, Inc. http:// www.usainfo.com http://www.ihs.com SEARCH SOLUTION... OSLO: Fast Search & Transfer, the leading developer of enterprise search and real-time alerting technologies, Monday announced FAST InStream, an OEM enterprise search solution developed specifically for independent software vendors (ISVs). http://www.fastsearch.com SANTOS APPOINTS... ADELAIDE: Santos Limited Monday announced the appointment of Mr Martyn Eames to the newly created position of Vice President, Corporate and People, from December 1 2004. http://www.santos.com GAS SALES... ADELAIDE: Santos Limited Monday announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Santos (BOL) Pty Ltd (Santos), has signed a second gas sales contract for the John Brookes gas field. http://www.santos.com PANCREATIC CANCER... BASEL: Roche, Genentech, Inc. and OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Monday announced positive results from a phase III study of investigational drug Tarceva (erlotinib) in locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer patients. http://www.gene.com http://www.osip.com MOBILE CONTENT... SYDNEY: moodmessaging Pty Ltd, an Australian-based multimedia content development company, Monday announced that it will be launching IamEmo mobile content at Mobile Content World 2004, being held over two days later this month in the United Kingdom. http://www.IamEmo.com (AsiaNet is a consortium of leading news agencies distributing unedited, translated news releases for worldwide clients. Visit www.asianetnews.net for full-text versions.)--InfoQuest (PP)--