Ningbo Port prepares for $3bn double IPO

Shanghai: Ningbo Port Group, the second largest port operator in China, will go public in Hong Kong and Shanghai to raise US$3 billion in early 2008.
The company will invite BOC International Holdings Limited, Credit Suisse Group and JP Morgan Chase & Co. to manage its IPO.
Ningbo Port in Zhejiang Province consists of five port areas, namely Beilun Port Area, Zhenhai Port Area, Ningbo Port Area, Daxie Port Area, Chuanshan Port Area, with total 191 manufacturing berths. It handled 312.2 million tons of cargo during the first eight months of 2007, more than doubling the amount in the same period of 2006, a little less than Shanghai Port of 325.9 million tons, the largest in the country.
Zhoushan Port, also in Zhejiang Province, which started integration with Ningbo Port from December 2005, will probably invest in its partner.
Before Ningbo Port, large Chinese ports like Shanghai Port, Dalian Port and Tianjin Port and Xiamen Port have listed. Ningbo is one of the fastest growing ports in the world and widely considered to be the finest natural deepwater port in the whole country. [25/09/07]