Australian miner Resourcehouse Ltd plans to raise US$3 billion in a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), a report said yesterday, the latest miner to eye a listing in the Asian financial hub.
The firm, controlled by billionaire Clive Palmer, began pre--marketing the sale yesterday, its third attempt to list in Hong Kong, Dow Jones Newswires reported, citing an unnamed source.
During pre-marketing, a company and its bankers gauge investor interest in an IPO and come up with a price range for the deal.
Photo: EPA
The firm received approval from Hong Kong’s stock exchange several weeks ago, with the listing scheduled for April 5.
POSTPONEMENT
Resourcehouse had originally planned to list in November 2009, but postponed an investor roadshow as it prepared for an investment by Metallurgical Corp of China (中國冶金科工).
Metallurgical, which bought a 5 percent stake in Resourcehouse for US$200 million, said in February last year that the Australian miner would start an investor roadshow for its Hong Kong IPO, but the firm pulled back again as stock markets were hammered by news of Greece’s debt woes.
The same month, Palmer said the company he founded had signed a binding, 20-year contract with China Power International Holding Ltd (中國電力國際) for the sale of 30 million tonnes of coal a year from the China First Pty Ltd mine in central Queensland state. He estimated the monster deal could be worth US$60 billion.
AIRASIA X
Separately, long-haul budget carrier AirAsia X said yesterday that plans for an IPO this year were running on schedule, although it must first win approval for its route expansion plans from the Malaysian government.
“One of the factors we have to look at before going for an IPO is the route allocation policy and we have to determine what this is going to be,” AirAsia X chief executive Azran Osman-Rani said.
“One of the most important things for us is the issue of equity. The expansion of AirAsia X is inevitable, but getting the money to support the 20 planes that we want to buy is something we have to consider,” he said.
AirAsia X founder Tony Fernandes said the company could be dual-listed, possibly on a US bourse as well as on the Malaysian stock exchange.
PRESTIGE
“We are on track for the IPO and it would be great if we can get a dual listing as this would give added prestige to Malaysia,” Fernandes said.
AirAsia X is an affiliate of regional low-cost carrier AirAsia and Virgin Group. It flies to 14 destinations — Taipei, London, Tehran, Paris, Seoul, Tokyo, China (Tianjin, Hangzhou, Chengdu), Australia (Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth) and India (Mumbai, New Delhi).
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