9. Sino Hua-An to defer buying plant

Market conditions not conducive KUALA LUMPUR: Metallurgical coke producer Sino Hua-An International Bhd is deferring the acquisition of a steel plant till next year. According to executive chairman Tunku Naquiyuddin Tuanku Ja'afar, the acquisition of Linyi Jiangxin Steel Co Ltd has been deferred due to the prevailing market conditions. “It’s not conducive for capital raising exercises and we prefer to focus on raising the efficiency of our coke plant,” he told reporters after the company AGM yesterday. The company had in late February announced that it was putting off the acquisition of Linyi Jiangxin after taking into consideration several factors, including the increase in funding costs, escalating iron ore prices and also its own depressed share price. Sino Hua-An had proposed to acquire a 49% equity stake in the steel... [read full story]