Loans may upset port fundraising bid

Xiamen International Port has begun book building for its US$156 million initial public share offering amid concerns that at least half the proceeds will be swallowed up by debt, preventing it from funding expansion projects, the South China Morning Post reported. According to the company's directors, the balance of the project funding will need to come from operating cash flow and bank financing, while more than 50% will go to pay outstanding loans from China Construction Bank for building berths 1, 4 and 5 in the Haicang port region. Xiamen International controls 80% of the container traffic at Xiamen port, the seventh busiest in Mainland China and the closest to Taiwan.