Australia's Resourcehouse postpones HK share salePosted: 12...

Australia's Resourcehouse postpones HK share sale
Posted: 12 March 2011 0150 hrs

HONG KONG : Australian miner Resourcehouse has postponed a $3 billion initial public offering in Hong Kong over concerns about shaky stock markets, a report said Friday.

The firm, controlled by billionaire Clive Palmer, had planned to start its investor roadshow for the IPO on Monday, after receiving a green light for the sale from Hong Kong's stock exchange, Dow Jones Newswires reported, citing an unnamed source.

The delayed sale by Resourcehouse, one of a number of miners eyeing a listing in the Asian financial hub, was its third attempt to list in Hong Kong.

The miner originally planned to list in November 2009, but postponed a roadshow as it prepared for an investment by Metallurgical Corp. of China.

Metallurgical, which bought a five percent stake in Resourcehouse for $200 million, said last February that the Australian miner would start an investor roadshow for its Hong Kong IPO, but the firm pulled back again as stock markets were hammered by Greece's debt woes.

The same month, Palmer said the company he founded had signed a 20-year contract with China Power International for the sale of 30 million tonnes of coal a year from a mine in Queensland state. He estimated the deal could be worth $60 billion.

Resourcehouse initially erred by saying it had inked a deal with China Power International's Hong Kong-listed subsidiary, China Power International Development, sparking a denial that there was any deal at all.

The parent company later confirmed the two sides reached a so-called framework agreement but disputed details of the deal supplied by Palmer.

- AFP /ls

Back to the bottom drawer. This stock will be 10 cents again soon.