Nine Dragons in bond sale

Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Ltd, the mainland's largest paper-board producer, is selling five-year dollar-denominated bonds that will yield around 8 percent, a source said.

The offering, which aims to raise $300 million, will be sold at a spread of around 500 basis points (bps) over US Treasuries, the source said.

Funds from the bond sale will be used to finance capital expenditures, refinance existing bank loans, and for general corporate and working capital purposes. The bond offering, handled by Merrill Lynch, could price as early as today.

US lender eyes CCB shares

Bank of America plans to shed part of its 9 percent stake in China Construction Bank (CCB) in order to raise capital while at the same time looking to exercise options to buy more shares at below-market levels, the Financial Times reported yesterday.

Ken Lewis, chief executive of the second-largest US bank, said late last year that the lender hoped to sell some of its CCB shares in 2008.

Rail builder wins contract

China Railway Group said yesterday it has won a 1.84 billion yuan contract for a domestic railway construction project.

China Railway Group said it will build a 70-km railway in the southwestern province of Yunnan, and the value of the contract represents 1.1 percent of its 2006 revenue.

The project will take 1,796 days to complete, it added.

The firm raised $5.5 billion in a dual Shanghai and Hong Kong listing late last year, attracting strong investor interest as it benefits from massive infrastructure spending in China and expansion overseas.

China Mobile Q1 profits up

China Mobile, the world's top cellular carrier, yesterday posted a 37 percent rise in its quarterly net profits on strong subscriber growth.

China Mobile, which dominates the world's biggest telecom market, posted a profit of 24.1 billion yuan for the three months ending March 31, compared with 17.56 billion yuan a year earlier. The result fell a tad shy of an average net-profits forecast of 24.65 billion yuan, according to four analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

IBM sells stake of Lenovo

US computer giant IBM shed more of its stake in top Chinese PC maker Lenovo Group yesterday, offloading up to $85 million worth of the stock at a discount to its last trading price.

IBM acquired its stake in Lenovo at HK$2.675 a share in 2005, when the Chinese firm bought IBM's ailing PC arm for $1.25 billion, and has been selling it off in chunks as lockup periods have lapsed.

IBM offered to sell 116.19 million Lenovo shares yesterday in a price range of HK$5.61 to HK$5.76 each in a deal handled by Citigroup.

Zijin eyes buys abroad

Zijin Mining Group Co Ltd, the mainland's second-largest gold miner, is exploring corporate acquisitions abroad, especially of firms involved in gold-related businesses, to expand its reserves and feed booming consumption.

The firm, which is set to raise about $1.43 billion in a sale of shares in Shanghai, intends to drive a 30 percent expansion in metal reserves and 20 percent increase in metals production annually until 2010.

Tsingtao's H2 slides 18%

Tsingtao Brewery Co Ltd, the mainland's second-largest beer maker, posted an 18 percent slide in second-half earnings yesterday, as strong sales failed to offset higher tax rates and soaring barley costs.

Tsingtao, 27 percent-owned by top US beer maker Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc, said in a faxed statement it earned 192.4 million yuan for the six months ending in December, versus about 235.1 million yuan a year earlier, according to calculations from full-year figures.

Reuters

(HK Edition 04/22/2008 page2)