Eastern Airlines to buy 70 Airbus A320neo

    CHINA Eastern Airlines Corp. has ordered 70 A320neo aircraft, marking a big victory for Airbus, which has been actively marketing its popular A320 jet to Chinese carriers.

    It is the first order by a Chinese airline for the plane. The European aircraft maker has been in discussion with Chinese carriers to sell hundreds of A320neos. The US$6.37 billion deal will also help boost the competitiveness of China Eastern, one of the country’s top three airlines, by increasing its capacity by about 13 percent, the carrier said in a stock exchange filing Friday. The aircraft are scheduled to be delivered from 2018 to 2020 and will be used to service short and medium routes, Eastern Airlines said. China Eastern also said it signed a separate deal with Airbus to sell back seven used A300-600 jets.

    HK yuan deposits rise 3.8% in January

    YUAN deposits in Hong Kong, the largest offshore market for the Chinese currency, rose to 893.4 billion yuan (US$145.78 billion) in January, up 3.8 percent from a month earlier, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said Friday.

    Cross-border trade settled in yuan increased 4.8 percent in January to 492.3 billion yuan on a month-on-month basis, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said.

    Two companies eye Finmeccanica units

    CHINA CNR Corp. and Insigma have expressed interest in buying Finmeccanica’s rail unit Ansaldo STS and loss-making train maker Ansaldo Breda, the Chinese firms said Friday.

    The state-owned Italian group put its rail and other non-core assets up for sale more than two years ago to cut debt and focus on its aerospace and defense businesses. It has struggled to carry out the plan due to political opposition to foreign takeovers. Shanghai-listed CNR and Insigma said Friday they aimed to invest and relaunch the Finmeccanica units.

    Poly Culture set to raise US$331m in IPO

    POLY Culture Group Corp., China’s largest art auctioneer, is set to raise US$331 million after pricing its Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) at the top of its marketing range thanks to strong demand for stocks in niche sectors.

    The world’s third-biggest auctioneer after runaway leaders Christie’s and Sotheby’s is following in the recent footsteps of a funeral services operator, cooking wine maker and night club owner, who received buying offers far in excess of the number of shares on sale.