Share sale to fund purchase

China Mengniu Dairy Co Ltd said yesterday it would issue HK$2.91 billion worth of of new shares to settle its purchase of an additional interest in its main operating subsidiary Inner Mongolia Mengniu Dairy.

The dairy processor said it would increase its stake in the subsidiary to 93.29 percent from 84.32 percent, to be settled by issuing 135.33 million new shares, representing 8.67 percent of its enlarged share capital.

The average trading price of the shares in the previous 60 trading days was HK$21.48 each, the company said.

Buying parent's assets

China Shenhua Energy Corp, the world's most valuable coal miner, plans to buy assets worth 11 billion yuan from its State parent, two sources familiar with the deal said, expanding its operations in the world's largest coal market.

A source close to the deal, which is a typical path employed by listed Chinese firms hoping to expand rapidly, told Reuters yesterday that the assets to be bought included non-coal operations, but declined to elaborate.

Shenhua has long expressed its intention to gradually absorb its unlisted parent's sprawling assets, and is keen particularly to buy high-quality coal operations.

Operations return to normal

China Eastern Airlines Corp Ltd said yesterday that operations at its Yunnan subsidiary had returned to normal, following disruptions of flights last week that media reports attributed to a strike action by pilots.

The airline will also seriously examine areas of management which may need improvement, it said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

China Eastern said on Monday that the subsidiary had grounded pilots who flew domestic flights back to their departure airports last week for what were suspected to be contrived reasons.

PTT, CNOOC to swap stakes

Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production PCL and Chinese energy giant CNOOC Ltd have agreed to swap stakes in oil and gas blocks in army-ruled Myanmar, the Thai firm said yesterday.

The deal will see PTTEP hand over its 20 percent stake in offshore gas blocks M3 and M4 to the Chinese firm in exchange for a 20 percent share of CNOOC's A4 and C1 blocks, the company said.

Huadian Q1 output up 60%

China's Huadian Energy Co generated 60.2 percent more power in the first quarter as it raced to feed a rapidly expanding economy. The firm put out 22.43 million megawatt-hours of electricity from January to March, it said in a statement yesterday.

Most mainland power firms are raising generation to meet huge demand of a blistering economy.

Reuters

(HK Edition 04/10/2008 page2)