BASF to build US$10b chemical plant

GERMANY’S chemical giant BASF signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding Monday to wrap up a preliminary deal to build China’s first wholly foreign-owned chemicals complex.

The proposed complex, worth some US$10 billion in investment to 2030, will be located in Guangdong and would ultimately be the third-largest BASF site worldwide, following Ludwigshafen, Germany and Antwerp, Belgium.

Central Government-owned firms’ profits up 23%

TOTAL profit from China’s Central Government-owned State firms rose 23 percent to 887.79 billion yuan (US$132.9 billion) for the first six months of 2018 from the same period a year earlier, the country’s State assets regulator said Thursday.

For June, profit rose 26.4 percent year on year to 201.88 billion yuan, according to details provided by the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) before a briefing in Beijing. The Central Government-owned firms’ debt-to-assets ratio was at 66 percent at the end of June, 0.1 percentage point higher compared with the end of March, the SASAC said.

Longfor, CPPIB to co-invest in rental housing

CANADA Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) said Thursday it will invest in China’s rental housing sector with Longfor Group, with an initial targeted investment of US$817 million.

The companies will invest in China across major cities via developments, acquisition and master-lease of commercial assets to be converted into rental housing, CPPIB said in a statement. Longfor, China’s No. 9 homebuilder by sales value, is one of the most aggressive players in the policy-supported rental housing sector, with a target to add 45,000 new units in the second half to its 20,000 unit portfolio. It expects operating income from renal housing business to be over 3 billion yuan in 2020.

Tiger Brokers raises US$80m in funding round

CHINESE brokerage company Tiger Brokers said Wednesday it raised US$80 million in its Series C round of funding, valuing the company at US$1.06 billion.

After the fresh round of funding, the company, which was founded in June 2014, hit the billion-dollar-valuation milestone and joined the club of unicorns, Tiger Brokers said. The latest round of financing is co-invested by Prospect Avenue Capital, Hontai Capital and Oceanpine Capital.