Finance October 12 to 16
Five mainland property developers ready to launch initial public offerings in Hong Kong received a lukewarm response from investors because their assets were overvalued and IPO prices too high, sources close to investment banks said. Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd. received subscription pledges worth about US$500 million, one-third of its financing target, with the proportion of investment from cornerstone investors significantly lower than expected, an investment banker participating in the transactions told Caijing. Both Evergrande and Excellence Group plan to slash their IPO prices, according to the investment bankers. Investors also shunned developers Fantasia Holding Group Co., Minfa Group and Xiamen Yuzhou Group, the sources said.
Sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp. has tacitly agreed to Nobel Oil Group's plan to pursue a backdoor listing in Hong Kong and has no plans to renege on its commitment to invest in the group, a source close to the deal told Caijing on Oct. 16. In an Oct. 15 online statement, the Beijing-based fund said it has completed the first phase of its US$300 million investment in the Russian oil company, paying US$100 million for a 45 percent stake and US$50 million to cover operating expenses. Oriental Patron Financial Group took a 5 percent stake, and the original Russian shareholders retained the remainder.
China's big four state-owned banks contributed just 21.4 percent of September's new yuan loans, down 70 percent from over the first six months, according to figures from the People's Bank of China website. The quartet extended 110.5 billion yuan in new loans in the month, out of a total of 516.7 billion yuan. A total of 75.6 percent of September loans, or 390.8 billion yuan, came from postal banks, agricultural credit cooperatives and policy banks, while 3 percent came from joint-stock banks. The big four - Bank of China , Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China - contributed 40 percent of new yuan loans in August and 47 percent in July.
