Billionaires Li Ka-shing and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal plan to buy stakes in China's top port builder, China Communications Construction Group, ahead of its US $2 billion to $3 billion IPO, sources close to the deal said on Friday.
The state-run company aims to be the second to list simultaneously in Hong Kong and Shanghai, but sources said it may list first in Hong Kong and later in mainland China because of technical issues involved in its domestic initial public offering.
"The list of strategic investors is not finalised yet," a banking source said. "It's very likely to be three. CKI (Cheung Kong Infrastructure) and Prince Alwaleed have a high possibility of getting a stake."
Hong Kong-based Cheung Kong Infrastructure, which is 84.58 percent-owned by Li's conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, has holdings in energy, transportation and water infrastructure.
Alwaleed, ranked by Forbes magazine as the world's fifth-richest person, has been interested in Chinese investments, as has the Saudi government. Earlier this year his Kingdom Holding announced that it wanted a US $2 billion stake in Bank of China, which went public in June in Hong Kong. Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah visited China in January and China's president went to Riyadh in May.
Neither Cheung Kong Infrastructure nor a representative of Alwaleed could immediately be reached for comment. It could not be determined how big the Li and Alwaleed investments would be. China Communications Construction is expected to make a final decision on its dual listing plan within the next few days. A company official could not immediately be reached for comment.
The company, which had hoped to follow Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) as only the second company to list at the same time in Hong Kong and mainland China, may choose to list Hong Kong H-shares first, followed by a sale of domestic A-shares, two bankers working on the deal said.
If it lists first in Hong Kong, it will initially raise roughly US $1.5 billion, the two said. It was not immediately clear how soon the domestic A share deal would follow. China Communications Construction has been eyeing a mid-December listing.
"If the company wants to do a simultaneous dual Hong Kong and Shanghai listing, there is a chance it would be delayed to next year," one of the sources said.
The state-owned group initially planned to split the share sale equally between Hong Kong and Shanghai, but that could be changed depending on market conditions, sources said.
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