Huaneng Power International Inc, China's biggest independent power producer, said last Thursday it generated 90.91 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity last year, up 27.3 per cent from 2002.

The increase was driven by booming economic growth and new plants.

The firm said its power plant in East China's Fujian Province increased its power generation last year, and new units in Shandong and Shanxi provinces also contributed to the higher output.

Its shares rose 1.89 per cent, to HK$13.90 (US$1.79), last Thursday. They have gained 22 per cent in the past three months.

SHANGHAI

Sinopec's business up

Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co Ltd, China's top ethylene producer, manufactured 948,000 tons of the feedstock last year, up nearly 19 per cent from 2002, a securities newspaper reported last Thursday.

Shanghai Petrochemical, a unit of China's No 2 energy firm Sinopec Corp, enjoyed expanded capacity last year after completing an upgrade of a 700,000-ton-per-year (tpy) ethylene plant, Shanghai Securities News reported.

The plant produced 798,000 tons of ethylene, the vital building block of plastics, in 2002, the newspaper reported.

"The firm has realized stable growth in ethylene production for five straight years,?the paper reported.

Last Monday, the firm announced a US$46-million plan to raise oil refining capacity nearly 60 per cent this year to help meet robust demand for oil and petrochemicals.

Minsheng listing OK'd

Shareholders of China's Minsheng Banking Corp have given the lender permission to launch an IPO (initial public offering) in Hong Kong this year to help shore up its capital and bankroll overseas expansion, the bank announced last Friday.

The approval, granted last Thursday during at a shareholders?meeting, paves the way for the first Chinese mainland bank to debut overseas, the bank said in a statement in the Shanghai Securities News.

Executives previously estimated the lender's Hong Kong IPO would raise about US$1 billion ?particularly with the current fervour for Chinese IPOs.

Minsheng's share offer must be approved by regulators. Analysts say the go-ahead is forthcoming.

Insurer to issue A shares

The New China Life Insurance Co, the country's fourth-largest life insurer, aims to list in the Chinese mainland this year.

If successful, it will become the first life insurer to issue shares domestically.

The company plans to list 400 million yuan-denominated A shares, which will be available to a small circle of foreign investors, to raise up to 4 billion yuan (US$483.2 million), Shanghai Securities News reported last week.

"New China Life will issue A shares domestically this year, and will hopefully become the first insurance company to be listed at home,?the newspaper reported.

Overseas investors have piled into an insurance sector that is booming as the State dismantles a cradle-to-grave welfare system.

Insurance premiums in China rose 45 per cent in 2002, to 305.3 billion yuan (US$36.78 billion).

(Business Weekly 01/13/2004 page7)