Biz Scene

MARKET

Raising funds

China's real estate companies are now looking to trust funds to raise capital.

Shenzhen-listed China Merchants Property Development Co Ltd said it will raise around 1 billion yuan in three years by joining forces with Shanghai International Trust Co Ltd. Leading property players including China Vanke Co Ltd and Gemdale Corp have also issued trust-related products.

In June 2003, the government allowed real estate companies to raise capital by cooperating with trust funds.

Share offer

Tianjin Port Holdings Co Ltd said it was approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission to raise funds worth 4.1 billion yuan from its parent company Tianjin Port (Group) Co Ltd, to buy the wharf and major subsidiary assets of Tianjin Port Group.

Tianjin Port Holdings will offer 226 million shares priced at 18.17 yuan apiece. The parent company's stake will increase to 56.81 percent from 50.08 percent.

Tianjin port is one of the northern region's major ports. Its assets in 2006 were close to 7.1 billion yuan, ranking it second in China's port industry.

Power loan

Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) will grant a bank loan of 60 billion yuan to China Southern Power Grid Corp, helping the latter build and improve electricity infrastructure in the rural areas of five regions in southern China within three years.

They are Guangdong, Yunnan, Guizhou and Hainan provinces, and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

By the end of 2007, ABC's loans extended to China's electricity industry had reached more than 300 billion yuan.

GRAPEVINE

Shenyang stake

Two foreign funds are expected to join Shenyang Machine Tool (Group) Co Ltd as shareholders, but the proposal still needs approval from the authorities, China Business News reported.

The newspaper's source would not identify the two funds, saying they would buy shares from hedge fund Jana, to whom Shenyang Machine Tool sold its 30 percent stake last year.

Last June, Shenyang's State-owned assets commission, which previously held a 100 percent share in Shenyang Machine Tool, said it planned to sell 49 percent, and later 30 percent was identified to go to Jana.

Dual listing

China Railway Construction Corp, the country's second largest construction contractor, is almost finished preparing for its initial public offerings in Shanghai and Hong Kong, the Oriental Morning Post reported.

China Railway Construction Corp has submitted its proposal to the China Securities Regulatory Commission and will begin its roadshow from Jan 29 in Hong Kong. The two IPOs are expected to help the construction contractor raise 3 to 4 billion yuan.

Earlier this month, four construction groups won 83.7 billion yuan worth of contracts to construct the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway. China Railway Construction Corp won the largest share, with 40 percent of the project.

BIZ UNUSUAL

New twist

Deep-fried twisted dough sticks, a traditional Chinese breakfast food, will be available in KFC outlets in China before Spring Festival, KFC China said.

The dough sticks will only be sold in the mornings for 3 yuan. Those sold by Chinese fast-food chain Yonghe King are sold for 4 yuan.

McDonald's executives said the company has no plan to follow suit.

English menus

Restaurateurs in tourism hotspot Chengdu are translating their menus into English to bring in more foreign visitors.

Pictures are also included with the translations of Sichuan dishes in the new menus.

This comes after Beijing's drive to standardize English menus in restaurants across the capital last year, in the lead-up to the Olympics.

The new menus are expected to be introduced by Spring Festival.

Snow man

Talk about entrepreneurship. A sophomore named Wang Li from a university in Nanjing is selling online a bottle of water that melted from the snow he got recently. For 28 yuan!

Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, witnessed a heavy snowfall, the first in several years, on Sunday. This created a buzz among those living outside the city, with many discussing it animatedly on the Internet. Noticing the stir it had caused, Wang promptly stuffed some of that snow in a bottle and put it up for sale.

Wang had once put out an online ad selling a bottle containing concrete that his friend brought him from the construction site of an Olympics venue. That one was priced at $100,000!

Coin rings

Rings made from coins are proving popular in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province.

The rings come in white and gold, with the white rings sporting 1 yuan and 0.10 yuan coins and the gold rings made from 0.50 yuan coins.

The rings are sold for 5 yuan. But local authorities are investigating whether the coin rings are illegal

LOCAL

No phosphorus

Twenty-one supermarket chains across Shanghai said they will withdraw washing powder containing phosphorus from February, to help prevent pollution of the city's lakes and rivers.

The move is in response to a municipal government call for the city's supermarkets to stop selling the washing powder.

Legislation banning phosphorus washing powder is expected this year.

The supermarket chains said they would instead promote non-phosphorus washing powder.

Hunan earnings

Government revenue in Hunan province is expected to reach 125.3 billion yuan this year, increasing by 12 percent compared with 2007, and a large proportion will go to education, health and housing, the government's report said.

In 2007, provincial revenue hit 112 billion yuan, more than 2.6 times the 2002 figure, and expenses were 134 billion yuan, about 2.5 times those in 2002.

IPO training

Foshan government recently invited experts from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and officials from the Guangdong provincial government for IPO training, explaining laws and regulations to 170 executives from 60 companies in the city.

Last year, only two companies from Foshan listed overseas, and none floated on the mainland market. About 70 companies currently intend to list and four have submitted applications.

BIZ MOVE

Qualcomm promotion

Qualcomm Incorporated has announced it has promoted Wang Jing to the post of executive vice-president. In his new role, Wang will drive Qualcomm's continued growth in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa regions.

In his previous role as senior vice-president and chairman of Qualcomm Asia-Pacific, Wang played an important role in driving CDMA's adoption and growth in China and Southeast Asia, the company said.

(China Daily 01/18/2008 page15)