The mainland's second round of shale gas auctions drew 152 bids from 83 companies as non-state firms were allowed to take part for the first time. China, which has the world's biggest shale gas reserves, has yet to produce the fuel commercially. The blocks auctioned cover 20,002 square kilometres across eight provinces. Bloomberg
Citic Telecom International, a unit of Citic Pacific, may pay up to US$750 million for Cable & Wireless Communications' 51 per cent stake in Macau phone operator Companhia de Telecomunicacoes de Macau, two people familiar with the negotiations said. Bloomberg
Net profit at jumped 50.58 per cent to 3.84 billion yuan (HK$4.77 billion) for the nine months to September. Revenue rose 37.83 per cent to 29.46 billion yuan on growing car sales. Yvonne Liu