Draft rules on preferred shares released

    CHINA’S stock regulator Friday released draft rules on the issuance of preferred shares, but didn’t say when the pilot program would start.

    The government said in late November that it would allow listed firms to issue preferred stocks publicly in a trial program. The move would offer a fresh funding channel to listed companies, and banks were said to be among the key beneficiaries. Preferred shares, which often have a mix of debt and equity characteristics, shouldn’t be priced at a discount to the par value of the shares, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said.

    Merchants Property to buy more land

    CHINA Merchants Property Development Ltd. plans to buy more land next year because of the “positive” outlook for the domestic property market.

    The Shenzhen-based developer, on track to meet its 40 billion yuan (US$6.6 billion) sales target this year, will be “more active” in buying land in 2014, Liu Ning, the company’s board secretary, said Friday. The developer’s Hong Kong-listed unit China Merchants Land Ltd. will expand to less affluent cities.

    CITIC Bank plans bad loan write-off

    CHINA CITIC Bank, the country’s seventh-largest lender, aims to more than double its planned bad loan write-offs this year to around US$860 million, the latest sign of rising delinquency after slower economic growth.

    CITIC’s bad loan situation is among the worst of mid-sized Chinese banks. Its nonperforming loan ratio stood at 0.90 percent at the end of September, above the average 0.83 percent ratio for other domestic joint stock banks. It will ask for shareholder permission to write off 5.2 billion yuan (US$860 billion) in nonperforming assets, up from a previous plan of 2 billion yuan.

    Two firms sign overseas cement deals

    CHINESE firms Sinoma and CITIC Heavy Industries have agreed deals worth US$733 million to produce cement in Nigeria and Myanmar, respectively.

    Sinoma International Engineering Co. signed a US$536 million contract with Nigeria’s Dangote Cement to build two clinker cement production lines, each with a daily capacity of 6,000 tons. Meanwhile, CITIC Heavy is collaborating in Myanmar with Mawlamyine Cement Ltd. on a cement production facility with a capacity of 5,000 tons per day.