CNPC to buy stake in Eni's Mozambique assets

China National Petroleum Corp, the country's largest oil producer, will buy a 28.57 percent stake in Eni SpA's East Africa subsidiary for $4.2 billion. The deal will give CNPC indirect ownership of 20 percent of Eni's Mozambique assets, State-controlled CNPC said on Thursday. Eni, Italy's largest oil company, has discovered about 75 trillion cubic feet of gas in Mozambique, CNPC said. The purchase will be the biggest deal involving an Asian company announced so far this year, according to Bloomberg.

Nissan may build leaf electric cars in Guangdong

Nissan Motor Co, Japan's second- largest automaker, may build Leaf electric vehicles in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, according to a government statement. Nissan's Chinese joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Group Co may invest 2 billion yuan ($322 million) on the project, the National Development and Reform Commission's Guangdong branch said on its website. According to the statement, the plan calls for initial capacity of 10,000 Leaf vehicles a year and 50,000 after 2015 - comparable to Nissan's UK and Japan plants.

Volkswagen targeting 60% rise in China production

Volkswagen AG plans to increase production by 60 percent by 2018 in China, where the German company's earnings last year rose by almost half. A new plant in China, just approved by the supervisory board, will be designed to build up to 300,000 vehicles a year and will start operating in early 2016, Martin Winterkorn, chief executive officer, said on Thursday. Production capacity in China will rise to 4 million vehicles a year by 2018 from about 2.5 million now.

Bad-debt management firm to plan $3b share sale in HK

China Cinda Asset Management Co, one of four funds created in 1999 to buy bad debts from banks, plans to seek about $3 billion in an initial public offering in Hong Kong, said two people with knowledge of the matter. The state-owned asset manager may start the share sale in 2014, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified. Cinda has yet to hire banks to manage the IPO, the people said. Cinda, a legacy of China's efforts to clean up a 1990s bad-loan crisis, has expanded into underwriting stock and bond sales, pitting it against Wall Street firms.

Sinopec loan paves the way for storage facility in UAE

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp is leading the way for fuel producers and traders to borrow more than $500 million to build storage at the biggest oil port in the Persian Gulf region outside the Strait of Hormuz. Sinopec and a Singaporean partner raised a $252 million loan last month for an oil-storage facility in Fujairah, the UAE port, a person with knowledge of the financing said.

Natural gas projects promoted in Tianjin

Tianjin will build five natural gas power plants by the end of 2015 as the municipal government accelerates the projects to increase clean energy consumption, ICIS C1 Energy, a Shanghai-based energy consultancy, said on Wednesday. The city has one natural gas power station under construction and another four projects approved. The projects will be funded and built by the five top power generation companies in China: China Guodian Corp, China Huadian Corp, China Datang Corp, China Huaneng Group and China Power Investment Corp.

Beijing commercial property transactions surge

Transactions of commercial properties and office buildings in Beijing surged 320.5 percent in the first 10 days of March month-on-month, data from Century 21st showed on Thursday. Around 759 units of commercial properties were sold and registered online by March 10, accounting for 6.3 percent of all the transactions recorded in the period. Compared with the same period of last month, the figure is up 320.5 percent. The surge in the commercial property transactions follows the latest moves by the State Council to control the property market.

SPDB revenue rises by 22% to 82.95 billion yuan

Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co Ltd saw its annual revenue grow 22.14 percent year-on-year to 82.95 billion yuan ($13.38 billion) in 2012, according to the company's annual report on Wednesday. Shareholders' net profit increased 25.29 percent year-on-year, to 34.19 billion yuan, while the bad-loan ratio rose 0.14 percent, to 0.58 percent. Insiders from the bank said 75 percent of the 3.1 billion yuan in new bad loans was made to enterprises in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, and 85 percent of the bad loans went to wholesale and manufacturing industries.

Beijing to float the yuan in 5 years: HEx's Charles Li

China will open its markets and allow its currency to float within five years, said Charles Li, chief executive officer of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. "China has to reform its interest rate system," Li said on Wednesday during a panel discussion at the Futures Industry Association conference in Boca Raton, Florida. The value of the renminbi is limited by the government and is only allowed to rise or fall within a narrow range, and Li said this system can't last forever.

Emerging-market stocks fall for fourth day running

Emerging-market stocks dropped for a fourth day, poised for the longest losing streak in five weeks, as Chinese developers tumbled and South Korea refrained from cutting interest rates. Country Garden Holdings Co fell 4.3 percent in Hong Kong, leading losses in Chinese mainland real estate companies, after the China Securities Journal reported Beijing will strengthen homebuyer reviews. Hana Financial Group Inc slid to a one-month low in Seoul. Bank of the Philippine Islands fell 3.6 percent in Manila, with the nation's benchmark index heading for its longest run of losses in three months.

China Daily - Agencies

(China Daily 03/15/2013 page14)