Sino Australia Oil & Gas defers IPO by 3 months

Sino Australia Oil & Gas Ltd, a Chinese drilling services company, deferred a proposed initial public offering in Sydney by as much as three months citing a period of "market volatility" in Asia. Sino Australia, based in Daqing in northeast China, plans to complete the offer by Oct 4 and to start trading by Oct 25, Wayne Johnson, a Sydney-based director, said on Monday. That compares with its previous expectation of July 5 after which it requested an extension. The company expects to raise A$15 million ($14 million) to A$20 million, Johnson said. The company said in May it plans to sell 24 million shares at 50 cents a share to raise A$12 million, while a further A$8 million in shares may also be sold.

Wanda property mogul named as the richest

Wang Jianlin, owner of China's biggest commercial land developer, is the nation's wealthiest person, based on regulatory filings that show his non-real estate businesses are more valuable than previously calculated. The chairman of closely held conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group, which became the world's largest movie theater chain after acquiring AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc last year for $2.6 billion, has a net worth of $14.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He is $3.2 billion richer than Zong Qinghou, founder of Hangzhou Wahaha Group, China's No 3 beverage maker. Zong is the country's second-wealthiest person. "Wanda leads Chinese enterprises in expanding its business globally and catering to consumers' demand at home with some high-profile acquisitions," said Kenny Wu, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Ji-Asia Research Ltd. "Wang's move to diversify from Chinese real estate seems rewarding."

ZTE to help expand mobile network in Ethiopia

ZTE Corp, China's second largest telecom equipment company, signed an $800 million deal with Ethiopia-based telecom operator Ethio Telecom on Monday to help expand the African nation's mobile network infrastructure. Ethio Telecom is the only mobile operator in the country of more than 80 million people. ZTE's agreement with Ethio Telecom is half of a $1.6 billion project split with Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's second largest telecom equipment maker. Huawei signed its agreement with Ethio last month. Andualem Admassie, acting CEO of state-run Ethio Telecom, said the agreement would enable the African country to double subscribers to more than 50 million, according to Reuters.

Coal output and sales decline in first 7 months

China's coal output and sales both declined in the first seven months of 2013, statistics from the China National Coal Association showed on Monday. The country's coal output in the January to July period stood at 2.13 billion metric tons, down 3.5 percent from the same period last year, while sales decreased 3.9 percent to 2.07 billion metric tons, according to the association. Meanwhile, fixed asset investment in the coal mining industry declined 1.6 percent to 258.9 billion yuan ($42.3 billion), said the association's vice-president Jiang Zhimin in a news conference. In the first seven months, China imported a total of 187 million metric ton of coal, up 14.1 percent, while exports declined 22 percent to 4.9 million metric tons, said Jiang. In the first six months, the net profits of the country's large and medium-sized coal producers declined 43.3 percent from the same period last year, according to the CNCA.

Shenzhen plans for a tariff-free pilot zone

Shenzhen is set to launch a free trade zone on a pilot program. The city government recently released detailed plans for a tariff-free zone for exports and imports from 2013 to 2015. The zone, which includes seven industrial parks covering 10.48 square kilometers, will be developed into an international commodity trade and logistics center. It will also incorporate a settlement center as well as a center for setting prices of key commodities. Once established, the zone will be a comprehensive free trade area incorporating a free port, a renminbi offshore center and a services trade center connecting Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macao.

Alibaba buys stake in US online shopping firm

Alibaba, China's largest e-commerce company, has acquired a minority stake in US online shopping company ShopRunner, the Financial Times reported on Friday. The acquisition is part of a series of investments by Alibaba as it mulls going public, the newspaper said, quoting sources. Alibaba will pay $75 million for the stake in ShopRunner, run by former Yahoo chief executive officer Scott Thompson, the FT said. Alibaba's public relations team had no comment on the deal when approached by China Daily on Monday. Jonathan Lu, Alibaba's chief executive officer, said in an interview in July that money raised from a potential listing will be used to fund further acquisitions.

China Resources' profit increases 78% in H1

China Resources Power Holdings Co, alleged to have deliberately overpaid for coal assets, posted a 78 percent increase in first-half profit as lower prices of the fuel helped reduce costs. Net income rose to HK$5.33 billion ($687 million), or HK$1.12 a share, for the six months ended June 30 from HK$3 billion, or HK$0.63, a year ago, the company said on Monday in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange. "Supply and demand in the coal market during the first half of 2013 was easing in general with supply greater than demand," the company said in the statement. "The easing of supply and demand and the decrease in spot coal prices enables us to further control fuel costs."

Chaoyue acquires scrap metal firms for HK$10b

Chaoyue Group Ltd, based in Anyang, Henan province, agreed to buy two Chinese makers of stainless steel and copper products for HK$10 billion ($1.3 billion) after selling its main water purification businesses last year. Chaoyue will pay HK$3 billion in cash to Chung Ming Metal Resources Holdings Ltd for the firms, with the balance in shares and convertible bonds, it said on Monday. The deal gives it control of one of the top 10 producers of scrap-based stainless steel and one of the top five makers of scrap-based copper in China as the nation makes resource recovery a priority, Chaoyue said. "With its large production and extensive use of scrap metal in production, the target group is well positioned to capture growth in demand for stainless steel and copper products," it added.

Formosa invests $1.15b in Fortescue-Baosteel JV

Formosa Plastics Group will invest $1.15 billion in the Iron Bridge project by Fortescue Metals Group. The project is a joint venture between Australian iron ore producer Fortescue, with 88 percent of the shares, and a subsidiary of Shanghai Baosteel Group Corp with 12 percent of the shares. Under the agreement, Formosa, through subsidiary Formosa Steel, will acquire a 31-percent unincorporated joint venture interest in FMG Iron Bridge Joint Venture and fund the first $527 million of capital expenditure on the project development. The MG Iron Bridge joint venture owns the North Star and Glacier Valley iron ore deposits in Western Australia, a combined iron ore resource of 5.2 billion tons.

Yancoal Australia reports $688 million H1 loss

Yancoal Australia Ltd, controlled by one of China's biggest coalminers, reported on Saturday a first-half loss of A$749 million ($688 million) and total revenue of A$718 million. During the same period last year, the company saw profits of A$410 million. Yancoal, which is 78 percent owned by Yanzhou Coal Mining Co, will bring a net loss of about 3.3 billion yuan ($534 million) to its parent company. Falling coal prices and the depreciation of the Australian currency were two factors for the huge loss, website China Coal Resource quoted analyst Zhang Pengcheng as saying.

China Daily - Agencies

(China Daily USA 08/20/2013 page14)