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BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Monday announced a $20 billion capital injection into China Development Bank, one of the country's three policy lenders, as part of a long-planned transformation of the state-owned company into a commercial bank.

THE Agricultural Bank of China will launch its long-expected restructuring plan soon, the central bank governor said yesterday. The restructuring plan will be decided soon to elevate the bank into a strong and internationally competitive bank, Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of the People's Bank of China, said yesterday at a financial forum in Beijing. Zhou said China's financial institutions should actively be engaged in the development of the agricultural sector, which is ABC's main focus. He added that the restructuring will start next year. Central Huijin Investment Co, which recently merged with China Investment Corp, will be involved in the restructuring of China Development Bank and ABC, said Lou Jiwei, chairman of the CIC, the country's sovereign wealth fund, at the forum. Deputy Finance Minister Li Yong was reported as saying earlier that one-third of the CIC's US$200 billion start-up capital, or US$66 billion, will be injected into China Development Bank and ABC for

CHINA'S military enterprises are encouraged to conduct group listings and are expected to raise between 50 billion yuan (US$6.75 billion) and 60 billion yuan from public share sales by the end of 2010, a senior official said. The majority of these enterprises will complete their reform to turn into shareholding companies in five years, which paves the way to trade shares publicly, said Wu Fenglai, head of the Reform Department under China's Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense. In his article published yesterday in the China Securities Journal, Wu noted that military enterprises, except wholly state-owned ones, welcome foreign investment. Depending on their influence in national security, the country's military enterprises are divided into wholly state-owned, state-controlled and state-invested. "Most of China's military enterprises are allowed to source funds from the capital market and foreign investors," said Wu. China issued a new

CHINA Investment Corp, the US$200 billion fund that last week invested US$5 billion in Morgan Stanley, has denied it bought a stake in the Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, Bloomberg News reported today. "We didn't buy any stake," Lou Jiwei, chairman of Beijing-based China Investment, said at a press event without elaborating. He also denied buying a stake in China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. The central government is loosening restrictions on overseas investment to counter inflows from a record trade surplus that has driven up local stock and property prices. Investing more money abroad will help cool the world's fastest-growing major economy and diversify risk for China's more than US$1.4 trillion of foreign-exchange reserves, the world's largest. Lou said on November 29 that CIC "wants to be a stabilizing force in the international capital markets." He cited a "recent example" in which a similar fund invested in a financial firm that had

CHINA Pacific Insurance (Group) Co Ltd shares fell back slightly in afternoon trade on the Shanghai Stock Exchange after this morning's stellar debut. The shares opened at a premium of 70 percent to their IPO price and sold as high as 51.97 yuan (US$7.09) before settling back to finish the day at 48.17 yuan -- 60.57 percent above the issue price of 30 yuan. The company issued one billion A shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, making it the third insurer listed on the Chinese mainland after its larger rivals China Life and Ping An Insurance. China has urged its largest financial firms to sell stock domestically to give mainland investors more choices. The A shares account for 12.99 percent of China Pacific's expanded share capital and the money raised through the domestic listing will be used to replenish capital to help expand the business, its prospectus said. Shenzhen-based Ping An, the nation's second-biggest insurer, raised US$5 billion in February in the world's

CHINA Pacific Insurance (Group) Co Ltd shares jumped 70 percent when it started its first day of trading in Shanghai this morning. China Pacific surged to 51 yuan (US$6.96) when it started trading at 9:30am from its Shanghai initial public offering price of 30 yuan. The company issued one billion A shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, making it the third insurer listed on the Chinese mainland after its larger rivals China Life and Ping An Insurance. The A shares accounts for 12.99 percent of China Pacific's expanded share capital and the money raised through the domestic listing will be used to replenish capital to help expand business, its prospectus said.

THE China Development Bank and the Tianjin Binhai New Area signed an agreement to set up a venture capital fund to boost high-technology start-ups in the fastest-growing economic zone in north China. The Ministry of Science and Technology Website released yesterday the joint efforts to kick off the first government-backed venture capital worth two billion yuan (US$270 million) with equal contributions from the CDB and the TBNA. Pi Qiansheng, a vice-ministerial official who heads the TBNA administration, said the government funded and operated venture capital would primarily perform as a fund of funds, an investment fund that has a strategy of holding a portfolio of other investment funds rather than investing in tangible projects. Pi said that the fund of funds will choose outstanding domestic and overseas venture capital funds, including private equity funds, to invest. The selected venture capital funds will be asked to prioritize their investment portfolio in high-technology

NANYANG Commercial Bank plans to at least double its network on the Chinese mainland in two years, after it opened its local incorporation yesterday to fully tap the mainland market. The bank said in Shanghai yesterday it would offer unlimited yuan services. The Hong Kong-based bank gained the approval to set up the local incorporation with a registered capital of 2.5 billion yuan (US$341 million) from the China Banking Regulatory Commission on December 4. The local incorporation was set up on December 14. Nanyang Commercial Bank has six branches and one sub-branch on the Chinese mainland in cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dalian and Haikou. "Network expansion is a key part of the local incorporation's business development," a bank spokesman said. He said the bank would first focus on major cities in the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta and coastal areas in the geographic expansion. It will also seek opportunities to open outlets in

THE prospects of rising profit for China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co have created a buzz among stock analysts who forecast that the insurer's stock is likely to jump about 50 percent on its A share debut today in Shanghai. Everbright Securities Co expects shares of Pacific Insurance to be between 42.60 yuan (US$5.81) and 44.30 yuan apiece, up from its offering price of 30 yuan. Guotai Jun'an Securities has a higher valuation of 43.80 yuan to 46.80 yuan while Haitong Securities sees a range of 40.64 yuan to 45.22 yuan. Pacific Insurance raised 30 billion yuan in its Shanghai initial public offering last week, making it the sixth-biggest IPO on the Chinese mainland. The Shanghai-based insurer sold one billion yuan-backed new shares, or 13 percent of its enlarged capital, at the top end of its offering price range of 27 yuan to 30 yuan. "Pacific is the sole comprehensive insurer whose business is balanced between life and property and casualty insurance," said Pan

The major source of Merrill Lynch’s $6.2 billion cash infusion, announced Monday, was fairly unsurprising: Singapore. It is just the latest Asian country to invest in a troubled financial firm, following China’s decision to pour $5 billion into Morgan Stanley. Merrill’s other investor, however, was a bit of a dark horse. It was Davis Selected Advisors, a [...]

NANYANG Commercial Bank plans to at least double its network on the Chinese mainland in two years after it opened its local incorporation today. Nanyang Commercial Bank (China) Ltd opened in Shanghai yesterday to offer unlimited yuan services to Chinese. The Hong Kong-based bank gained approval to set up the local incorporation with a registered capital of 2.5 billion yuan (US$341 million) from the China Banking Regulatory Commission on December 4. Nanyang Commercial Bank has six branches and one sub-branch on the Chinese mainland in Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dalian, Haikou and Shanghai. "Network expansion is a key part of the local incorporation's business development," the bank said. The bank will first focus on major cities in the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta and the coastal area. It will also seek other opportunities in other areas. The bank will focus on personal financial planning products and services in retail banking. In corporate banking,

CHINA Construction Bank Corp said it plans to increase its overseas presence by opening branches in London and the Middle East. The nation's second-largest lender will apply to establish wholly-owned subsidiary banks in London and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, as well as a branch in Doha, Qatar, according to a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. All are subject to relevant regulatory approval, the Beijing-based bank said. CCB said it also plans a budget of 31.5 billion yuan (US$4.27 billion) for capital expenditure next year. Of that, 16.5 billion yuan would be used as purchase and construction expenditure, mainly for the establishment of business units, self-service banking facilities, technological items and IT equipments. The other 15 billion yuan would be for investment. Shares in CCB rose 0.31 percent to 9.81 yuan in Shanghai and added 0.3 percent to HK$6.68 (86 US cents) in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, CCB, which started Shanghai trading on September 25, said a

CHINA'S oil and petrochemicals industry is expected to record a strong 21-percent rise in profit this year, an industry organization said, while warning a fuel shortage could recur in 2008 if the pricing mechanism is not improved. Profits of the sector may rise to 530 billion yuan (US$71.8 billion), up from 434.5 billion yuan in 2006, spurred by high crude prices and rising demand, the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association said on its Website. The industry would contribute 5.99 percent to China's gross domestic product this year. Profit growth in the industry may slow to around 19 percent in 2008, CPCIA said. The rise was 17.9 percent in 2006. The association also expected fixed asset investment in the oil and petrochemicals industry could grow more than 20 percent next year. "China's economic growth is giving the sector an increasing attractive power to international capital, so spending in the industry would keep fast rising." However, CPCIA pointed

AN advertising company under Shanghai's major media group has doubled its registered capital to 100 million yuan (US$13.5 million) to better serve newspapers in the Wenhui-Xinmin United Press Group, Shanghai Daily's parent company. Xinmin Media Advertising Co Ltd, the business arm of Xinmin Evening News, aims to boost sales and its share in Shanghai's media advertising market. The Wenhui-Xinmin group owns 18 publications and a publishing house, including Shanghai Daily, Xinmin Evening News, Wenhui Daily and Oriental Morning Post. The group's sales surged 34.14 percent last year on an annual basis and its assets totaled 4.6 billion yuan. Xinmin Evening News is one of the most popular newspapers in the country, with a daily circulation of more than one million copies. It is listed among the top 50 newspaper by the World Association of Newspapers. Meanwhile, Shanghai Daily, the premier English-language newspaper in east China, will manage its ad sales from within the newspaper

MERRILL Lynch & Co and CLSA Ltd are among six investment banks set to arrange State Bank of India's US$4.2 billion share sale, three people familiar with the plan said. Citigroup Inc, Deutsche Bank AG, Kotak Mahindra Capital Co and SBI Capital Markets Ltd may also underwrite the rights offer by the Mumbai-based bank, India's largest, the people said, declining to be identified before a formal announcement. State Bank's closest rival, ICICI Bank Ltd, led a record year for share sales by Indian companies as lenders raised funds to meet accelerating credit demand in the world's fastest-growing major economy after China. Merrill is the top-ranked adviser for a third year in India as companies sold US$25 billion of stock, Bloomberg News said. "The share sale will be made easier with economic and banking sector growth still strong," said R.K. Gupta, who manages US$100 million at Credit Capital Asset Management Ltd in New Delhi.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley said Wednesday it sold a portion of itself to China Investment Corp., an investment arm of the Chinese government, for US$5 billion (euro3.47 billion) to raise capital after taking US$9.4 billion (euro6.52 billion) in writedowns on mortgage-related investments.

China Investment Corp. will help the Wall Street firm weather its losses with a $5 billion capital infusion as CEO John Mack agrees to forgo his 2007 bonus

Reuters - Morgan Stanley on Wednesday posted a stunning fourth-quarter loss after recording a bigger-than-expected $9.4 billion of write-downs and said it sold a $5 billion stake to China Investment Corp to bolster its capital.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley on Wednesday posted a stunning fourth-quarter loss after recording a bigger-than-expected $9.4 billion of write-downs and said it sold a $5 billion stake to China Investment Corp to bolster its capital.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley said today it sold a portion of itself to China Investment Corp., an investment arm of the Chinese government, for $5 billion to raise capital after taking $9.4 billion in writedowns on mortgage-related investments.