Capital Land, Shenzhen Investment placements to raise HK$2.56b

Mainland property developers Beijing Capital Land and Shenzhen Investment are separately seeking to raise as much as a combined HK$2.56 billion from share placements, taking advantage of the recent stock market rally, people close to the transactions said.

Beijing Capital Land, one of the country's largest land owners, placed 312 million new shares and a passive shareholder sold 31.2 million old shares to at least six independent investors for HK$2.80 per share, raising a total of HK$961 million, according to the sale document obtained by fund managers.

The price represents a discount of 13.3 per cent to yesterday's closing price of HK$3.23.

The offering was arranged by CLSA and covered three times.

'The existing shares were offered by China Pension Fund,' a source close to the transaction said. 'The order book was closed in the first 30 minutes [thanks to the size of the discount].'

Beijing Capital Land also plans to sell a further 343 million shares at the same price to several institutional investors with about 300 million shares scheduled to go to GIC, an investment arm of the Singapore government, another source said.

GIC already holds a 9 per cent stake in the company and the additional share purchase would enable it to keep its stake at or close to its current level. The additional sale will require shareholder approval.