COSCO IPO

On hopes that its high dividend payouts, prospective fleet expansion and financial strength would attract investors, COSCO, China's biggest shipping group, is expected to begin marketing its Hong Kong IPO today, despite weak equities markets and investor concerns over a slowdown in the shipping industry, the Financial Times reported. Three Asian investors, Li Kashing, of Hutchison Whampoa, Lee Shau-kee, chairman of Henderson Land, and Singaporean company Temasek, have already agreed to buy stakes.