Regulator allows 11 firms to launch IPOs

    CHINA’S securities regulator has allowed 11 firms to launch initial public offerings (IPOs) on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, a move likely to drag down the benchmark A-share indicator due to strong investor interest in buying new shares.

    The China Securities Regulatory Commission announced Tuesday night that companies that had passed pre-IPO scrutiny would start book-building soon and start trading after consulting the exchanges on their listing dates. The approvals take the number of pending and realized IPOs since June to 33, a third of the 100 quota set by the regulator for the second half of this year.

    Citic Bank plans US$6.02b bond offering

    CHINA Citic Bank Corp. plans to raise around 37 billion yuan (US$6.02 billion) in a bond sale, becoming China’s latest bank to raise capital against economic headwinds and rising bad loans.

    Citic Bank, in which Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA has a stake of just under 10 percent, plans to sell the bonds Friday to replenish its capital. China’s banks are rushing to raise cash through equity and debt sales to help bolster their balance sheets to meet tough new regulatory requirements and to defend against a slowing economy and souring loans.

    Ping An Insurance net profit rises 19%

    PING An Insurance said yesterday its first-half net profit rose 19 percent from a year earlier, aided by growth in premium income and higher profit from its banking operations.

    The firm, China’s second-largest life insurer by premiums after China Life Insurance Co., said first-half profit rose to 21.36 billion yuan (US$3.45 billion) from 17.91 billion yuan a year earlier. Premium and policy-fee income rose 23 percent year on year to 107.53 billion yuan, while investment income declined 12 percent to 23.33 billion yuan.

    Warburg, Baosteel to buy gas assets

    GLOBAL private equity firm Warburg Pincus and Shanghai Baosteel Gases Ltd. have agreed a deal to buy the industrial gas assets of Henan Jinkai Chemical Investment Holding Group for 3 billion yuan (US$489 million).

    The deal is part of a strategic partnership between Warburg and Baosteel to explore projects in industrial gases, as the Chinese company looks to increase its competitiveness at home and internationally.