Hong Kong Stock Exchange News

A German court will rule next week in a case brought by Genting Group against a German regional government after a row over funding for cruise shipbuilder MV Werften, which filed for insolvency on Monday.Genting, led by Malaysian tycoon Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, bought MV Werften in 2016. The pandemic has hit the global travel industry, including cruise operators and led to production stops at shipyards that build cruise ships.Genting's subsidiary Genting Hong Kong said on Tuesday…

Pacific Basin Shipping Limited has announced its conditional agreement to acquire five dry bulk vessels for a total consideration of US$104.6 million. The consideration will take the form of 216,903,274 new Pacific Basin shares to be issued to the ships’ sellers amounting to US$46.1 million in aggregate, cash of US$38.0 million in aggregate, conditionally raised through a placing of new Pacific Basin shares to institutional investors, with HSBC as placing agent and US$20.5 million to be funded from the Group’s cash. The acquisition of the ships and the share placing are all conditional upon the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s approval of the listing of the vessel consideration shares and the placing shares respectively, which we expect to be granted within several days.

China Cosco Shipping Corporation Limited (Cosco Shipping) and Orient Overseas (International) Limited (OOIL)  denied reports that they are in negotiations for Cosco Shipping to take over OOIL subsidiary Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL). Rumors about a deal for OOCL have grown over recent months, amid market consolidation and shake-up as the industry struggles to recover from a slump in freight rates linked to a glut of ships and slowing Chinese economic growth, reports Reuters. OOIL has denied knowledge of any potential bid for its container shipping business OOCL. Responding to reports in the Wall Street Journal and the Chinese media that Cosco Shipping was readying a bid in excess of $4bn for OOCL…

Chinese conglomerate Cosco Group is in talks to acquire smaller rival Hong Kong-based rival Orient Overseas Container Line Co. ( OOCL), Chinese media outlet Caixin reported quoting people familiar with the matter. The state-owned China COSCO  will compete with Evergreen Marine Corp. from Taiwan and France’s CMA-CGM SA in the takeover bid, but COSCO was more likely to win the deal, a source from COSCO told Caixin. A representative at COSCO Shipping's media relations department said the company wasn't aware of the bidding. However, the shares of OOCL surged the most in five years on Wednesday on the Hong Kong stock exchange following the reports.

Sino-Global Shipping America, a non-asset based global shipping and freight logistic integrated solution provider,  has announced the signing of an Inland Transportation Agreement  with COSCO Beijing International Freight Co in which COSFRE Beijing will utilize the Company's full-service logistics platform to arrange for the transport of its container shipments into US ports. In addition to the Agreement with COSCO Beijing, the Company has entered into a Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement with Sinotrans Guangxi, a subsidiary of Sinotrans Limited. Pursuant to the Agreement with COSFRE Beijing, Sino-Global will receive a percentage…

China Merchants Holdings International (CMHI) has announced plans to invest in 10 overseas ports in regions that include Russia, West Africa and South East Asia. China Merchants Holdings International Co Ltd (CMHI), listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, manages ports and manufactures containers. It is the largest public port operator in China in terms of container throughput, with a market share of roughly 33%. It is is looking for new investment opportunities in Southeast Asia, East and West Africa and Baltic Sea region and Russia. Bai Jingtao, Managing Director at CMHI, said: “It is important for the nation of China to build international connections so it can develop together with different countries.

Cruise ship operator Genting Hong Kong Ltd is buying three shipyards in Wismar, Warnemünde and Stralsund respectively owned by German shipbuilding company Nordic Yards for $358 million to further enable its presence in the sector. The purchase from Nordic Yard is expected to be funded by internal resources of the group, it said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The purchase of the three shipyards, along with Lloyd Werft last year, enables Genting Hong Kong to realize its global cruise ships fleet strategy over the next decade for its three brands - Crystal, Star and Dream, said Genting in a statement. “The rapid growth of the world cruise industry…

Israel’s Zim Integrated Shipping Services has hired two banks to carry out its initial public offering (IPO) in the US, Bloomberg reported. Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd has hired Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit and Barclays Plc to lead a New York IPO, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, says the report. The IPO is planned for the first half of 2016. The shipping company, controlled by billionaire Idan Ofer’s Kenon Holdings Ltd., is planning to list shares by the first half of next year, the people told "Bloomberg", asking not to be identified because the plans aren’t public. “Zim has been contemplating going public and other financing options since 2007,” Maor Aharoni, a spokesman for the company, was quoted saying. “This strategy has not changed.

Cnooc Ltd., China’s biggest offshore oil and gas explorer, posted a 56 percent decline in profit for the first half of this year. Net income dropped to 14.73 billion yuan ($2.3 billion), or 0.33 yuan a share, from 33.59 billion yuan, or 0.75 yuan, a year earlier, the Beijing-based explorer said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange Wednesday. That exceeded the 13.9-billion yuan average of three analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Despite profit fall, the company kept its dividend payout the same as the year-earlier level. Planned capital expenditure reduction by about 30 billion yuan this year and first-half savings of 12 billion yuan on an oil production tax helped offset lower cash inflows due to lower oil prices.

The state-owned infrastructure group China Communications Construction Corporation (CCCC) has established CCCC Dredging at Shanghai’s Free Trade Zone. CCCC Dredging is the first of a series of planned spinoffs as it develops into a holdings company with subsidiaries across various sectors, which it would eventually list overseas. The dredging group has integrated CCCC Tianjin Dredging, CCCC Shanghai Dredging, and CCCC Guangzhou Dredging, CCCC International Shipping, and Hong Kong Marine Construction. The registered capital of CCCC Dredging Group is $1.88bn and it will become the largest dredging company in the world in terms of fleet capacity. CCCC will become a holdings company controlling listed groups focusing on specific sectors, said Zhou Jingbo, chairman of CCCC Dredging (Group).

The world’s second-largest container manufacturer Singamas Container reported 2014 net profit which is lower than the previous year, but is expecting a better 2015 bolstered by pent-up demand from shipping lines and the firm’s investment in a gateway province between China and Southeast Asia. The Hong Kong-listed box-maker saw net profit fall 21 per cent to US$28 million (HK$217miilion), falling short of an estimated US$36.5 million in a Bloomberg poll of three analysts. Revenue jumped 20 per cent to US$1.5 billion, but this failed to translate into a higher bottom-line due to the lower selling price of the standard 20-foot dry freight containers, the firm’s main product used to carry industrial and consumer goods such as apparel, rubber and toys.

The ROC Board announced today that it has entered into a Bid Implementation Agreement (BIA) under which it is proposed that Fosun International Limited or a subsidiary of it (Fosun) will acquire all of the ROC shares currently on issue for A$0.69 cash per share by way of off-market takeover offers (Fosun Offer). A copy of Fosun’s announcement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange earlier today is attached.  an implied market capitalisation of ~A$474 million.  Various other business conduct conditions until 5.00pm (Sydney time) on 19 October 2014. In making their recommendation, the ROC directors have carefully considered the Fosun Offer and determined in good faith that the Fosun Offer is more favourable to ROC shareholders than the proposed merger with Horizon.

China's CITIC Resources Holdings Ltd has begun court proceedings against the operator of a bonded warehouse at Quindao port as legal action ramps up following an investigation into metals financing fraud at the world's seventh busiest port. CITIC Resources said last month it had been unable to secure around 120,000 tonnes of alumina, more than half of the alumina stocks it had title to that were stored at the port pending payment by buyers and delivery. Under the legal action, CITIC is requiring the port operator to confirm its ownership of 223,270 tonnes of alumina and 7,486 tonnes of copper, and to release the metal to the group or to offer compensation, it said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Tuesday.

CITIC Resources Holdings Ltd said on Tuesday that metal it owns at Qingdao port may be affected by a probe into suspected fraud, the latest firm caught up in a scandal that has raised broader worries about the risks of metal financing in China. The probe at the Chinese port, where a third-party firm is suspected of using single cargoes of metal multiple times to obtain financing, has also shaken markets amid fears the problems could extend to other ports and force a crackdown on using metal as collateral for finance. The investigation into the status of aluminium and copper products stored at the world's seventh-biggest port may hit the group, CITIC Resources said, sending its shares down by more than 8 percent to their lowest since May 7.

CITIC Resources Holdings Ltd said on Tuesday an investigation into the status of certain aluminium and copper products stored at China's Qingdao port may hit the group, signalling a possible broader impact on businesses exposed to the port. News of an investigation into a metal financing fraud at the port, where a third-party company is suspected of using single cargoes of metal multiple times to obtain financing, has rattled banks and trading houses and unsettled markets. "At present, the status of the investigation is unknown to the group," chairman Kwok Peter Viem said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange. "Until the status of the investigation is clarified…

With a loan of EUR 600 million, KfW IPEX-Bank is financing the construction of a second cruise ship for Star Cruises, the leading cruise line in Asia, at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg. The signing ceremony of the relevant contracts took place today in Hong Kong. The second new ship is expected to ship in the fourth quarter of 2017. In April this year, KfW IPEX-Bank had already completed the financing for a sister ship. Investment Bank and DNB Bank ASA, Singapore Branch the total loan amount available. Financing is provided with an export credit agency of the federal government (Euler Hermes cover) and binds the set by the OECD Ship CIRR (Commercial Interest Reference Rate) a.

Company signs agreement to manage a shipyard in Quanzhou, China. Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), through its wholly owned subsidiary, FELS Offshore Pte Ltd, has signed a management services agreement with Titan Petrochemicals Group Limited (Titan) - a company in which commodities trading conglomerate Guangdong Zhenrong Energy Co. Ltd. (GDZR) is a major shareholder - and Titan Quanzhou Shipyard Co. Ltd (TQS), to manage the TQS shipyard. TQS, located in Quanzhou in Fujian Province, is one of the largest shipyards in China, occupying a total area of 110ha with 3,600m length of coastline. When completed, TQS will have four ultra-large and wide dry docks…

Clean Energy Pipeline, the online daily financial news and data service dedicated to the clean energy sector, released its preliminary analysis of venture capital, private equity, project finance, mergers and acquisitions and public markets activity during 4Q13 and 2013. New investment in the global clean energy sector totalled $58.2 billion in 4Q13, a 15% increase on the $50.7 billion invested in 3Q13 but a 21% decrease on the $74.1 billion recorded in the corresponding period in 2012. Despite the quarterly increase, total investment throughout 2013 decreased 20% year-on-year to $212 billion. Total investment in the global clean energy sector has now fallen for two consecutive years.

Hong Kong's Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) says it has once again attained certification on the integrity and disclosure of its 2012 environmental data by adopting Clean Shipping Index (CSI) verification standards. OOCL was accredited the Verification Certification after an audit conducted by DNV GL by using an internationally recognized and accepted verification guideline to check OOCL vessels on a wide variety of scoring parameters, including emissions of carbon dioxide, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, wastes handling, chemicals usage, and wastewater control.

The 13,208 TEU containership  was christened 'OOCL Chongqing' at a ceremony in the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard on Geoje Island, South Korea. The OOCL Chongqing will be serving the Asia-Europe trade on the Loop 5 service where her port rotation is: Kwangyang / Busan / Shanghai / Ningbo / Yantian / Shekou / Singapore / Suez Canal / Rotterdam / Hamburg / Southampton / Suez Canal / Singapore and back to Kwangyang in a 77-day round trip. Among distinguished guests was the vessel Sponsor Mr. He Guangbei, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive of BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) Ltd.

According to a report from Dow Jones, Chinese shipbuilder New Century Shipbuilding Ltd. plans to raise $500m - $800m in an initial public offering ahead of a listing in Hong Kong in the first half, Dow Jones sources said. New Century submitted an application for the listing earlier this month and will have a listing hearing at the Hong Kong stock exchange in February, according to those sources. (Source: Dow Jones)

According to China Knowledge, China State Shipbuilding Corp, one of the world's five biggest shipbuilders, will take direct control of Shanghai-listed Hudong Heavy Machinery before its planned US$800 million IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange next year, according to the South China Morning Post on Thursday. Hudong Machinery, which has a 60% market share in Chinese production of low-speed diesel engines for ships, said Wednesday its two largest shareholders will transfer their combined 53.27% stake to their parent, State Shipbuilding. The transaction will not involve any cash. According to Hudong Machinery, the deal has already won approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

According to reports, China State Shipbuilding Corp. (CSSC) is making plans for an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to raise at least US$500 million, according to a report in the South China Morning News. The company is reported to be planning a share sale for the first half of next year and has engaged JPMorgan Chase & Co. to handle the IPO. CSSC is a State-linked company engaged in shipbuilding, ship repairing, research & design, manufacturing marine-related equipment, and in trading firms. In the next five years, it aims to increase its annual shipbuilding output from 5 million deadweight tonnage in 2005 to 9 million in 2010. Source: China Knowledge