China Overseas signs 3-year club loan with banks

(Ecns.cn)--China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. (COLI), a subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering Corporation, signed a HK$7.6 billion (US$979 million) 3-year club loan with 12 banks on Wednesday, according to reports Thursday.

The 12 banks include the Bank of China, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and the Hang Seng Bank. According to the state-owned builder, part of the loan will be used to repay some existing bank loans and others will go to real estate development.

This is COLI's third financing in 2012, and with the previous two, the total amount comes to HK$14 billion (US$1.8 billion). According to Kong Qingping, chairman of the board, the expenses of the company are estimated at 60 billion yuan (US$9.5 billion) for 2012, including 30 billion yuan (US$4.7 billion) used for its current projects and 25 billion yuan (US$3.9 billion) for land purchases.

Last March, the company earned over HK$9 billion (US$1.1 billion) from real estate sales, which is an increase of 16.68 percent year-on-year, but a decrease of 30.9 percent compared to February, according to the company's sales report released on April 10.

China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd was incorporated in Hong Kong in 1979, and in August 1992, COLI was listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. It was the first Chinese enterprise to acquire a listing status based on its own local business or assets located in Hong Kong.