RUSAL IPO said approved by city bourse, watchdog

United Co RUSAL's application for a $2 billion initial public offering on Hong Kong's stock exchange received approval from the bourse and the securities regulator.

The IPO was approved by Hong Kong's exchange last week, two people familiar with the matter said. The Securities and Futures Commission said RUSAL will be excluded from offering stock to retail investors, according to two people, who declined to be identified because the approval hasn't been announced.

The aluminum producer plans to start gauging demand for the sale on January 4, the people said.

Hong Kong IPOs may raise record $48b in 2010: E&Y

Hong Kong initial public offerings may raise a record HK$370 billion ($47.7 billion) next year, international accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP projected. The amount would be 28 percent higher than the HK$290 billion seen during the 2007 peak, it added.

Deal flow will be driven by companies that delayed share sales because of the financial crisis and those that are spinning off part of their operations for separate listings, said Paul Go, Ernst & Young's Beijing-based managing partner of industries and priority accounts.

Financial and property companies will dominate IPO funds raised in the city. A number of international resources companies are also planning to go public in Hong Kong, Ernst & Young said, without mentioning any names.

Goodman to hire four banks for HK warehousing loan

Goodman Interlink Ltd, a venture of Australian real estate trust Goodman Group, hired four banks to help it borrow HK$1.2 billion ($155 million) for a warehousing development, according to two people familiar with the matter.

CITIC Ka Wah Bank Ltd, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, ING Groep NV and Natixis will provide the three-year loan, which Goodman Interlink will use to build a storage and distribution center in Hong Kong's Tsing Yi ports district, said the people, who asked not to be named as the agreement is private.

Phil Pearce, Goodman Group's managing director for greater China, wasn't immediately available for comment when Bloomberg called his Hong Kong office yesterday.

Stock index falls to 2-month low; developers drop

Hong Kong's benchmark stock index closed at its lowest level since October as HSBC Holdings Plc dropped after the Observer of London said the bank plans to list shares in Shanghai, and developers slid on concern China will do more to curb real estate speculation.

The Hang Seng Index fell 1.1 percent to 20,948.10, extending its drop in the past five sessions to 5.2 percent. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks so-called H-shares of mainland companies listed in Hong Kong, slid 1.1 percent to 12,203.17.

HSBC, Europe's largest bank, slipped 1.1 percent. KWG Property Holding Ltd, a Guangzhou-based developer, plunged 6.9 percent. Ping An Insurance (Group) Co, mainland's second-biggest insurer, declined 1.1 percent after the Securities Times said the company may take as much as an 80 billion yuan ($11.7 billion) charge against its guaranteed-return policies.

China Daily/Agencies

(HK Edition 12/22/2009 page4)