Biz scene

MARKET

Zinc purchase

Western Mining, China's fourth largest zinc miner, yesterday said it will buy zinc and indium ingots worth 93 million yuan from a zinc smelter in Qinghai province.

Western Mining will buy 3,800 tons of zinc ingot and 5,618 kg of indium ingot from Qinghai Summit Zinc Co, a subsidiary of Shanghai-listed Tibet Summit Industry Co Ltd.

Western Mining said its zinc stocks at its Shanghai branch had been low due to strong demand in the market, and the purchase would guarantee the company held enough supplies to satisfy its long-term clients.

The company agreed to buy zinc ingot for 19,650 yuan per ton and indium ingot for 3,300 yuan per kg.

Bond issue

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, Asia's top oil refiner, said late on Sunday it would issue up to 30 billion yuan worth of bonds with warrants tomorrow.

The nominal interest rate of the six-year bonds with warrants is between 0.8 and 1.5 percent and will be determined in accordance with the results of the book-building process, while the initial price of the warrants is 19.68 yuan per A share.

Last month, the firm, also known as Sinopec Corp, said it had received regulatory approval to launch convertible bond offers to fund expansion.

Joint venture

Sinolink Securities Co plans to set up a joint asset management company with Hundsun Electronics Co and China General Technology Group, the Shanghai Securities News reported, citing Sinolink Chairman Lei Bo.

Sinolink will spend 78.4 million yuan for 49 percent of Sinolink General Asset Management Co, the report said, citing Lei. It didn't give more details.

The plan is awaiting approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, it said.

Cement stake

Holcim Ltd, the world's second biggest cement maker, has increased its controlling stake in Huaxin Cement Co for 2 billion yuan.

The purchase lifted Holcim's holding to 39.9 percent from 26.1 percent, Huaxin Cement said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday. The debt-equity ratio of Huaxin Cement, based in the central city of Huangshi, will drop to 56.82 percent from 71.06 percent after the acquisition, the company said.

BIZ UNUSUAL

Shared weddings

Studios that allow young lovers to share wedding costs have become popular in Shenyang.

Many Chinese have chosen to get married in the Olympic year, pushing up wedding costs by 20 to 40 percent, according to Xinhua News Agency.

To save money, some couples are cutting costs by sharing dresses, services and location.

More is better

A property management company in Chongqing has posted ads for security guards, saying those over 170 cm in height will get higher pay.

"As strong security guards can present the image of our company better, we give 100 yuan a bonus each month to these people," said the company's HR director.

Multicolored roses

Beijing's flower markets presented seven-colored roses, priced at 200 yuan each, on Valentine's Day last Thursday.

These are made from white roses dyed red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue and violet. A flower seller said the roses were a hit despite being more expensive than ordinary ones.

GRAPEVINE

CIC appointment

Jin Liqun, vice-president of the Asian Development Bank, may become vice-chairman of China Investment Corp, China Business News reported, citing unidentified sources.

Jin may take the post after finishing his term at the Asian Development Bank, the newspaper said, without elaborating. Jin was appointed the bank's vice-president in 2003.

Alibaba move

Alibaba Group, partly owned by Yahoo! Inc, hired advisors to help negotiate greater management independence should Microsoft Corp acquire its US shareholder, Wall Street Journal Asia reported.

The move came after Chinese regulators, which see Alibaba as a national champion, contacted the Hangzhou-based company to ask how it could be affected by the proposed acquisition, the report said, citing unidentified sources.

Alibaba hired lawyers and financial advisors to help evaluate issues such as how it could increase control in areas such as board composition and voting rights under Microsoft, according to the report. Microsoft on Jan 31 made an unsolicited offer, then valued at $44.6 billion, for Yahoo, which Yahoo's board rejected last week.

BIZ MOVE

New CEO

Du Hua has been appointed CEO of the China Region for Rohm and Hass Company, one of the world's largest manufacturers and suppliers of specialty chemicals and acrylic acid-related products.

Du Hua joined Rohm and Haas Company as China Manager of the company's first Dongguan facility in January 1998. He joined the Leadership Council in January 2008.

He has a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Illinois in the US.

LOCAL

Xinjiang highways

The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region built 670 km of highways for 3 billion yuan last year in rural areas to accelerate the development of rural transportation, according to the region's communications department.

The department also said it will increase its highways by 6,000 km in 2008, with the total length of highways in Xinjiang expected to reach 170,000 km in 2012.

Bank loans refused

Six heavily polluting projects in Shandong province have been refused bank loans this year due to a tighter monetary policy.

Banks in Shandong are not allowed to issue loans to prohibited or inferior projects, enterprises with a bad pollution record, small-sized coal powered plants and obsolete equipment and technologies, according to the Shandong branch of the People's Bank of China.

"The tight monetary policy will help to optimize the loan structure and promote loan growth," said Yang Ziqiang, head of the Jinan branch of the central bank.

History project

Hengdian Group, well known for its replicas of historical sites in film shoots, has started to construct a replica of Yuanmingyuan, the old Summer Palace that was burned down by the British and French allied forces in 1860, in its original size.

Covering a total area of 411 sq km, the project in Hengdian, a small town in Zhejiang province, will cost about 20 billion yuan.

The project is likely to be finished in five years. The company has attracted 1.18 billion yuan of investment, only 5.8 percent of the total needed.

(China Daily 02/19/2008 page15)