Central bank sells dim sum bond in London

    CHINA’S central bank sold its first-ever dim sum bond yesterday, placing a one-year issue in London with a yield of 3.10 percent and order books six times the amount it had planned to sell.

    The yield tightened to 3.15 percent from the initial 3.3 percent area when books opened, before selling at 3.10 percent. Order books touched 30 billion yuan (US$4.73 billion), compared with a planned issue size of 5 billion yuan.

    Fang said to be vice chairman of CSRC

    FANG XINGHAI, a financial industry veteran with a doctorate degree in Economics from Stanford University, will soon be appointed deputy chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), China’s Caixin reported on its website, citing unidentified sources.

    Fang currently works at a government body that helps lead and supervises economic work for China’s State Council, or Cabinet. He will replace departing Liu Xinhua, who has reached retirement age, Caixin said. Fang has both domestic and overseas educational background, having studied at Tsinghua University and Stanford.

    CICC to launch HK listing next week

    CHINA International Capital Corp. (CICC), the country’s top domestic investment bank, is set to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong next week, seeking to raise about US$800 million, IFR reported Tuesday.

    CICC is backed by private equity firm KKR & Co., TPG Capital and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Ltd. The bank was originally targeting US$1 billion from the listing but decided to cut the size as it did not want to sell too many shares at a relatively low valuation, IFR said.

    Huaneng posts weakest growth in 3 quarters

    HUANENG Power, the listed unit of China’s biggest power generator, yesterday posted an 11.2 percent rise in third-quarter net profit, the weakest pace in three quarters as the country’s slowing economy offset the impact of low coal prices.

    Huaneng Power International Inc.’s net profit for the July-September period came in at 4.2 billion yuan (US$661.63 million), up from 3.8 billion yuan a year earlier. The profit rise at Huaneng Power was the weakest since the fourth quarter of 2014 when net profit fell, data based on previous company announcements showed.