City stocks end 1.4% lower

Hong Kong stocks closed 1.4 percent lower Tuesday after a global stock rally in response to a $1 trillion deal to resolve Europe's debt crisis reversed course, with investors taking profits. The benchmark Hang Seng index fell 280.1 points to 20,146.51. The China Enterprise Index of top locally-listed mainland companies fell 1.8 percent.

Guangzhou R&F Properties Co, the biggest developer in the southern Chinese city, dropped 4.7 percent. Hang Lung Properties Ltd, the city's fourth largest developer by market value, declined 2.9 percent. Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd, the real-estate company controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing, slipped 1.6 percent. HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's largest bank, sank 1.9 percent on lingering concern over the long-term health of Europe.

Sands China has $1.75b financing for expansion

Sands China Ltd, Asia's biggest casino operator by market value, secured $1.75 billion of debt financing from a group of banks to resume building a resort in Macao, Chief Executive Officer Steve Jacobs said Tuesday in an interview in Hong Kong.

Sands China may sign agreements with seven main banks, including international and Chinese lenders, as soon as this week, Jacobs said. The company will also spend about $500 million from its initial public offering in November on the resort in Macao.

The $2.24 billion project, occupying two sites on the Cotai Strip opposite the company's Venetian Macao on the island of Coloane, will add 6,000 rooms to the 3,600 Sands China has in the city, he said.

Net income in the first quarter more than quadrupled to $110.5 million while sales rose 24 percent to $944 million, the company said in a statement to Hong Kong's stock exchange Tuesday.

Winsway hires banks for $800m HK IPO

Mainland coking coal logistics company Winsway, partly owned by Hopu Investments, has appointed two banks for its up to $800 million initial public share offering in Hong Kong, sources close to the deal said Tuesday. Winsway had hired Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank to finalize plans for its IPO in the fourth quarter, the sources said. Hopu, an influential China fund founded by dealmaker Fang Fenglei, who helped Goldman set up its China investment banking joint venture, bought a $110 million slice of Winsway, sources told Reuters in April. The banks, Hopu and Winsway all declined to comment.

Citic Resources aims to triple oil output by 2014

Citic Resources Holdings Ltd, the mainland metals producer turned energy supplier, plans to triple crude oil output by 2014 to benefit from rising prices and tap demand in the world's fastest-growing major economy.

"Output may increase to 3.5 million to 4 million metric tons from just over 1 million tons last year," Chief Executive Officer Sun Xinguo said in an interview in his office at the company's headquarters in Hong Kong Tuesday. Much of Citic Resources's new production will come from the Bohai Basin off the northern coast of China, Sun said.

Citic Resources has HK$2.4 billion ($300 million) of cash in hand and plans to spend at least $500 million to develop oil assets in Indonesia, Kazakhstan and China in 2010 and 2011, Sun added.

Agencies - China Daily

(HK Edition 05/12/2010 page2)