Beijing Capital Group, a Chinese company planning a series of infrastructure projects ahead of the 2008 Olympics, may raise $700 million selling a stake before an initial public offering overseas in the first half of 2006.

Beijing Capital, which has seven publicly traded units including Hong Kong-listed Beijing Capital Land Ltd., plans to use the proceeds to build highways, water-generation plants and to improve gas distribution in the city, company President Liu Xiaoguang said yesterday.

“These projects are in severe shortage in China,” Liu said in an interview in Beijing. “We need more highways and large- scale water plants.” The stake sale won’t be this year because the company is still in talks with investors, Liu said.

China — chosen as host for the 2008 summer Olympics — will use 380,000 metric tons of steel, or 0.1 percent of its output last year, to build stadiums and gymnasiums for the event, the China Iron & Steel Industry Association said on its Web site on April 8.

Beijing slashed construction costs for its Olympic projects by as much as 6 billion yuan ($725 million) in response to a government clampdown on investment in steel, real estate and other industries aimed at slowing the economy. The initial investment plan is $2 billion, the Olympic Games organizing committee said in December.

Open Markets

Beijing Capital, Bank of China Ltd. and Shanghai Automotive Industries Corp. and other companies are also seeking to list to help speed expansion as they brace for stiffer competition from overseas rivals. The government is opening the local market to companies abroad to fulfill World Trade Organization commitments.

Beijing Capital said on Sept. 12 that the shares in the private placement would be sold to three or four companies and the company is in talks with more than 10 parties from the U.S., Europe, Singapore and Japan. The potential investors are involved in fund management, investment and public works, Liu said last year. He declined to identify the companies yesterday.

“It’s a conglomerate, and it may be too diversified,” said Liu Yang, who helps manage $1.8 billion in Asian assets for Atlantis Investment Management in Hong Kong. “There may be some investor hesitation because it’s not focused on a specific industry.”

Beijing Capital was set up in 1995 from 17 units of the municipal government. The Beijing-based company has 142 companies engaged in six industries including real estate, public works, financial services, technology and commerce.

Shares of Shanghai Industrial Holdings Ltd., an investment arm of the city government with interest in businesses including cigarettes, Chinese medicine and automobile parts, have slumped 7.2 percent this year in Hong Kong, compared with a 4 percent slide by the benchmark Hang Seng Index.

Shares of Beijing Enterprises Holdings Ltd., which owns breweries, dairy companies and toll roads, have plunged 13.4 percent in Hong Kong. Shares of China Resources Enterprise Ltd., a retail company controlled by China’s Cabinet, have slid 10.7 percent.

Source : http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000006&sid=auUpFeFvrGWc&refer=home

SBI Life Insurance Company Limited, today, announced a growth of 166 per cent in total premium income for the year ended March 31, 2005. The total premium income of the company stood at Rs. 601 crore for FY 2004-05, as against Rs. 225 crore recorded in the corresponding period last year. Bancassurance contributed 67 per cent to the total premium income.

The company added 14.96 lakh new lives for the year 2004-2005, and now manages a portfolio of 29 lakh lives. The total new business Sum Assured for fiscal 2004-05 is Rs. 17,285.1 crores, which is 1.5 times of last year.

News Source: http://www.moneycontrol.com 

NEW YORK A group of former Morgan Stanley executives and dissident shareholders wants to spin off the Wall Street firm’s investment banking business long the pride of Morgan Stanley  to regain its stature and reputation, the group said Thursday. The proposal would essentially reverse Dean Witter & Co.’s 1997 takeover of Morgan Stanley, which has long been a source of bitterness to longtime Morgan Stanley employees who saw the aggressive retail brokerage as spoiling the company’s culture.The proposed spinoff is motivated by a belief that the Board of Morgan Stanley faces an immediate crisis and that the Firm has been badly served by its present management and leadership, the group of eight executives and shareholders said in a statement. The plan calls for Morgan Stanley’s investment banking division  which handles initial public stock offerings, debt and equity underwriting and a fixed income and commodities business to be spun off from the rest of the company, leaving Dean Witter with its investment management business, retail brokerage, mutual funds and the Discover card business. Morgan Stanley’s leadership is already planning a spin off of the Discover card business into a separate company, leaving Morgan Stanley with its investment bank and retail brokerage divisions. The group had earlier called the move ineffective non-executive members of Morgan Stanley’s board of directors on April 22, but that the proposal has not received a response from the board. The group also said it discussed the plan with institutional shareholders – large shareholders like pension funds or mutual funds – and added their input to their 21-page plan, presented on the group’s Web site. The group criticized Chief Executive Phil Purcell’s strategy of a fully integrated Morgan Stanley, which would leverage strengths in the brokerage and institutional securities division. They also renewed their call for Purcell’s departure.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20050512-0640-morganstanley.html

ALTOBRIDGE, a Kerry-based telecom software development company, is seeking to raise €4m from venture-capital firms as it builds its revenue base and continues its research and development. The company has also completed a rights issue among existing shareholders, raising €750,000.

Bank of Ireland Venture Capital and Cork-based Kernal Capital Partners are believed to be interested in investing in the business, which has so far raised €3m from shareholders.

The Tralee-based company develops software that allows mobile phones to work as normal via satellite on aeroplanes and on ships and other vessels at sea. This is done by installing a small base station, called a picocell, on the aircraft or boat, and connecting it to the telephone network via a satellite link.

Altobridge recently signed a contract with the Australian government that allows its scientists in the Antarctic to use their mobiles as normal through a base station installed by the company.

Mike Fitzgerald, its chief executive, said the company has also secured a deal with the owners of a luxury commercial yacht.

Altobridge was founded in 2002 by Fitzgerald, Guy Waugh, its chief operations officer, and Bart Kane, its chief financial officer. Dick Spring, the former tanaiste, is a board member.

Fitzgerald said it achieved turnover of €1m last year but hopes to grow this to €10m within three years and to build a stream of recurring revenues.

“Maritime and remote base stations are the two key areas of business for us,” said Fitzgerald. “There are 70,000 registered vessels, which gives an idea of the potential market.”

Fitzgerald was previously vice-president of two Nasdaq-quoted companies, ADC Telecommunications and Interwave, and was also involved in the successful trade sale of a small technology company for $20m (€15.8m).

News Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2095-1612361,00.html

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Valuations Term Sheets
Tag Along Rights & Drag Along Rights
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