Guangdong auctions local bonds

GUANGDONG auctioned 8.6 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) in five and seven-year local government bonds Thursday, at yields of 3.21 percent and 3.40 percent, respectively.

The bond volumes were equally divided between the two tenors. Guangdong is the second regional government to directly sell bonds on its own under a pilot program this year. Shanghai sold 8.9 billion yuan last month. The Ministry of Finance, which usually sells bonds on behalf of localities, has set a quota of 250 billion yuan for local government bond issues this year, up from 200 billion last year.

China Eastern plans share placement

CHINA Eastern Airlines Corp., one of China’s three largest air carriers, said Thursday it is planning to raise capital from its corporate parent through a share placement, in a bid to ease its financial burden.

“The company is considering conducting a nonpublic issue of shares to China Eastern Air Holding Co. The matter will be subject to further policy consultation with and proposal review by the relevant authorities,” China Eastern Airlines said.

BoCom mulls asset-backed securities sale

BANK of Communications Co. (BoCom) is considering selling asset-backed securities on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, China Securities Journal reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources.

The bank has named Haitong Securities Co. as the bookrunner of the deal, the report said. The newspaper didn’t give the size of the offering. China began allowing asset securitization within the financial sector on an experimental basis in 2005 but put the experiment on hold in 2009, when the sale of the instrument was heavily criticized during the 2008-09 global financial crisis. But regulators allowed banks in late May to revive the trial program.

Lenovo pushes into Brazil

CHINESE personal computer vendor Lenovo Group Ltd. said Wednesday it reached a nearly US$150 million deal to buy three Brazilian consumer-electronics companies.

Lenovo will pay 300 million Brazilian reais (US$147 million) in cash and stock to buy 100 percent of Digibras Industria do Brasil SA, Digiboard Eletronica da Amazonia Ltda. and Dual Mix Comercio de Eletronicos Ltda., manufacturers of CCE- branded personal computers, phones and television sets at seven factories across Latin America’s largest country.