resourcehouse

Australia's Resourcehouse eyes IPO February 28, 2011 - 8:39PM
.AFP

Australian miner Resourcehouse plans to raise $US3 billion ($A2.9 billion) in a Hong Kong initial public offering, a report says, the latest miner to eye a listing in the Asian financial hub.

The firm, controlled by billionaire Clive Palmer, began pre-marketing the sale on Monday, its third attempt to list in Hong Kong, Dow Jones Newswires reported, citing an unnamed source.

During pre-marketing, a company and its bankers gauge investor interest in an IPO and come up with a price range for the deal.

Advertisement: Story continues below The firm received approval from Hong Kong's stock exchange several weeks ago, with the listing scheduled for April 5.

Resourcehouse had originally planned to list in November 2009 but postponed an investor roadshow as it prepared for an investment by Metallurgical Corp of China.

Metallurgical, which bought a five per cent 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 news of Greece's debt woes.

The same month, Palmer said the company he founded had signed a binding, 20-year contract with China Power International for the sale of 30 million tonnes of coal a year from the China First mine in central Queensland state. He estimated the monster 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.

? 2011 AFP