Stocks end down 1.4%; property sag

Hong Kong stocks fell 1.41 percent, with banks and property shares seeing the steepest declines as Beijing announced fresh steps to curb lending and keep the economy from overheating. The benchmark Hang Seng index ended down 297.23 points at 20,811.36. The China Enterprise Index of top locally listed mainland stocks fell 1.94 percent. Property stocks led declines, with China Resources Land down 5.1 percent and China Overseas losing 3.8 percent. Volume remained light, with turnover on the exchange the lowest in about six weeks.

RUSAL said unit plans to sell 30b rubles of bonds

United Co RUSAL, the world's largest aluminum producer, said a unit plans to sell as much as 30 billion rubles ($1 billion) of bonds to refinance borrowings and reduce funding costs. The plan is to sell the debt in two tranches of 15 billion rubles each, with the coupon rate to be determined later, the Moscow-based company said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange Monday. The offer is subject to final approval by the board, it said. "The purpose of the issue will be refinancing the current debt of the company and its subsidiaries, decreasing debt service costs, and improving the debt profile," Rusal said in the statement. The first tranche of the debt will mature in 7 years from the date of the issue, and the second in 10 years, the company said.

Russia's SMR aims to raise $200m in IPO

Strikeforce Mining & Resources Plc (SMR), the fifth-largest primary molybdenum mine producer in the world, plans to raise between $150 million and $200 million from a Hong Kong initial public share offering, a source close to the deal said Monday. SMR, which kicked off pre-marketing Monday, has appointed BOC International, Deutsche Bank and Renaissance Capital to handle its IPO.

Q1 restaurant receipts up 4.8% yr/yr

Hong Kong's restaurant receipts rose 4.8 percent to HK$20.82 billion ($2.69 billion) in the first quarter of 2010 from the same period last year, data from the Census and Statistics Department showed Monday. The government revised the fourth quarter of 2009 total restaurant receipts to HK$20.83 billion, up slightly from a HK$20.82 billion provisional figure released in February.

Melco hires banks for $600m bond

Melco Crown Entertainment has hired banks for its plan to issue up to $600 million worth of eight-year bonds, a source close to the deal said. Deutsche Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Royal Bank of Scotland were hired as lead managers for the proposed bond, which will not be callable for the first four years, the source said Monday. The issuer will kick off a series of meetings with investors in Singapore Monday, then in Hong Kong and London Tuesday, New York Wednesday and Thursday, and Boston on Friday, the source said. The road show will end on May 10 on the US west coast. The bonds may be issued next week depending on market conditions, the source added. Proceeds from the bond issue will be used to pay debt incurred from its City of Dreams project, Melco said in a statement.

Agencies - China Daily

(HK Edition 05/04/2010 page2)