HONG KONG • China Resources Cement Holdings said yesterday it planned to sell HK$4.19 billion (S$713 million) worth of new shares to its controlling shareholder, raising capital for business development, to repay debt and for working capital.

The cement and concrete producer said it would sell 450 million new shares to CRH (Cement) at HK$9.30 apiece, representing a 9.88 per cent discount to the previous close.

CRH will buy the new shares following its sale of the same amount of existing shares at the same price to third-party investors. China International Capital Corp Hong Kong Securities and Goldman Sachs (Asia) are the placing agents.

The shareholding of CRH and its associates in the cement producer will be reduced to 68.72 per cent on completion of the deal, from 73.45 per cent.

The Hong Kong-listed firm said on Monday it expected to see a "significant increase" in first-half net profit due to the higher selling price of its cement products.

REUTERS