Biz Scene: Grapevine

Ningbo port sale

Ningbo Port Group, the world's fourth largest by throughput, plans to sell stakes to China Merchants Holdings (International) Co and Temasek Holdings Pte before an initial public offering (IPO) next year, Ming Pao Daily reported, citing unidentified people.

The two investors will buy about 10 percent of the Chinese port operator, the Hong Kong-based newspaper said. Ningbo Port has hired UBS AG to advise it on a $1 billion Hong Kong IPO planned for as early as the first half of next year, it added.

Insurance assurance

China Pacific Insurance Co has hired UBS AG, Credit Suisse Group and China International Capital Corp to manage its share sale in Hong Kong, the Shanghai Securities News said, citing an unidentified person involved in the insurer's initial public offering (IPO).

The company may sell shares on the Hong Kong exchange by the end of this year if its Shanghai IPO is successfully completed by the end of November, the report said.

The Shanghai-based insurer may raise as much as 20 billion yuan from a mainland IPO, the newspaper reported earlier.

(China Daily 09/20/2007 page15)