Dali Foods gets cornerstone pledges for HK IPO

    DALI Foods Group Co. secured commitments worth about US$305 million from cornerstone investors as one of China’s biggest snack makers launched its initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong yesterday.

    The three investors, which will not be able to sell shares in Dali Foods until six months after the IPO, included Longbow Securities Ltd. with US$75 million, fund manager Arisaig Asia with US$80 million and JIC Dessert Laboratory Ltd. with about US$150 million, the terms showed.

    Changan Automobile to invest US$4.7b in R&D

    CHANGAN Automobile Group, China’s fourth-biggest automaker by sales volume, will invest 30 billion yuan (US$4.7 billion) in research and development (R&D) over the next five years, Xinhua reported on Tuesday.

    The manufacturer will spend 5 percent of annual revenue from 2016 to 2020 for R&D, Xinhua quoted company vice president Li Wei as saying at an event in Chongqing. Chongqing Changan sold 718,310 vehicles in the January-September period, 15.7 percent more than a year prior.

    Qingdao Port, A.P. Moeller-Maersk in ventures

    CHINESE port operator Qingdao Port International Co. plans to set up joint venture companies with Denmark’s A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S for operating port terminal projects in China and Italy.

    Qingdao Port has agreed to set up a joint venture with APM Terminals Bulk Qingdao B.V., a unit of A.P. Moeller-Maersk, for operating a multi-purpose berth project at Qingdao’s Dongjiakou Port Area. Qingdao Port will have an 80 percent stake in the joint venture while APM Terminals will hold the remaining 20 percent. Qingdao Port and A.P. Moeller-Maersk also signed an initial agreement to set up a joint venture company for operating and managing the Vado Ligure Port terminal project in Italy with other strategic partners. It didn’t give further investment details.

    ICBC unit raises US$1.5b from bond offering

    ICBC Financial Leasing Co., the leasing arm of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (ICBC), raised a combined US$1.5 billion from its U.S. dollar-denominated bond offering via three tranches.

    ICBC Financial Leasing sold US$300 million worth of three-year U.S. dollar-denominated floating rate bonds with a coupon of 167 basis points above three-month U.S. dollar London InterBank Offered Rate.