China Xingfa Aluminium halts trading ahead of takeover announcement

Shares in state-controlled Hong Kong-listed Xingfa Aluminium have halted trading ahead of a takeover announcement, coinciding with a halt in trading for shares in China’s largest aluminium company.

Xingfa, almost a third of whose shares are owned by state-run investment firm Guangdong Guangxin Holdings, announced a trading halt at 8:53am (HKT) today. It followed that up with a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that the halt was made pending an announcement pursuant to the Hong Kong Code on Takeovers and Mergers.

Hong Kong-listed Aluminum Corporation of China (Chalco) also announced a halt at 8:53am today, without giving reason. Neither company has confirmed a takeover offer is in the works.

Trading volume for Xingfa has risen visibly in the last month, hitting a recent peak turnover of 1.294m shares on September 5 and coming in yesterday to turnover of 946,000. Shares were up 7.61 per cent on Wednesday at HK$2.97 and are up 11.65 per cent over the past month.

Consolidation among China’s often loss-making state firms in commodities and heavy industry, pushed by Beijing with an eye toward producing national champions, has been a theme in recent years.

That has been the case with state shipping giants Cosco and China Shipping to create China Cosco Shipping. Those two together occupy four spots on the list of ten biggest interim losses by state-owned firms listed on the mainland.

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