Biz scene
GRAPEVINE
Steel groups may combine
Chinese companies including Baosteel Group Corp may combine to buy a significant stake in BHP Billiton Ltd, the Sydney Morning Herald reported, citing an unidentified source.
Chinese companies including Baosteel, Wugang and Angang Steel Co may form an investment vehicle to buy the stake with funding possibly sourced through the China Development Bank, the report said.
MARKET
Hong Kong IPO
Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings Ltd raised $410 million in a Hong Kong initial public offering, the company said in a statement yesterday.
Chenming, the fourth largest paper producer in China by production capacity, priced its shares at HK$9 apiece, at the bottom of an indicated range of HK$9-HK$11.8 each.
The company is selling 355.7 million shares, or 17.25 percent of its enlarged share capital, in a deal handled by Guotai Junan Securities and Macquarie.
Increased vessel orders
China Shipping Container Lines Co, the country's second-largest cargo-box carrier, ordered eight container vessels for $559.8 million to help it meet rising demand.
The ships, which can carry 4,250 standard 20-foot containers each, will be constructed by China Shipbuilding Trading Co and Shanghai Jiangnan Changxing Heavy Industry Co, China Shipping said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing.
The vessels will be delivered by June 30, 2012, it said.
BIZ UNUSUAL
Clothes dye store
If you accidentally dye your clothes or don't like the color of the clothes anymore, a clothes alteration store in Nanjing may have the answer.
Staff can dye whole garments or parts of them any color to satisfy customers' needs.
They can also transform your favorite outfit into a new one by dyeing it and changing the style. You can even change a skirt into a shirt, as one customer has done.
The owner of the store says there are also many people who want to make their white shirts whiter as they become yellow once they are warn a lot.
Phone wash
A mobile phone cleaning center is attracting interest in Shanghai as customers fear that dirty phones could have a negative impact on health.
Staff at the center use a special machine and foam, to clean sweat stains, dirt, mildew and electronic fallout at a cost of 3 to 5 yuan per phone.
Beer-themed restaurant
Qingdao, a city already famous for its beer, will give beer enthusiasts another reason to visit.
The city has a beer themed restaurant where every dish and dessert is made with beer.
Qi Shan, owner of the restaurant, says they not only have beer flavored meat, beer stewed fish and bear steamed duck on the menu, but beer ice-cream, beer cake and beer coffee are all bestsellers.
Customers also sit around beer barrel-shaped tables while waiters wear clothes look like beer bottles.
LOCAL
Drinking water monitored
A 1.8 million yuan project backed by special funds is under way to monitor the quality of drinking water in the rural areas of Heilongjiang province.
The monitoring will focus on water sources, ways of collection and disinfection, in an effort to ensure safe and clean water for rural residents.
The monitoring will cover an area of 13 regions and an 18 million population.
Traditional medicine
The development of traditional Tibetan medicine and pharmacology has been given greater attention in the Tibet autonomous region.
There have been 17 Tibetan medicine institutes in the region, with 1,850 staff.
Traditional Tibetan medical services centers have been improved at county-level and the output value of the traditional Tibetan medicine and pharmacology industry reached 574 million yuan last year, which represents a 1.7 percent year on year rise.
Light railway construction
About 18.1 million yuan will be injected into the construction of light railway lines in Nanning, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
There will be a ring-like structure, composed of six lines, including two backbone lines.
The length of the light railway in the urban areas is about 173.5 km. The first phase of construction will start in 2009.
The whole project is expected to be completed by 2015.
(China Daily 06/12/2008 page15)
