Its the time for Railways to raise capital as part of the infrastructure building of the nation. China Railway is raising USD 5.5B from the Shanghai capital market. Soon I guess the Indian Railways will think of something like this. It is the best way to make the public participate in the jewels of the respective countries.

Forbes.com reports

From the late Qing Dynasty to the communist era, raising funds to build railroads has been a huge hassle in China. Now thanks to capitalism, the state-owned railroad builder China Railway Group is raising $5.5 billion almost effortlessly through a dual listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

China Railway Group, the world’s third-largest construction contractor by contracting revenue, is raising 22.4 billion yuan ($3 billion) from the issue of 4.675 billion shares in Shanghai after pricing the stock Thursday at 4.80 yuan per share (65 cents), at the top of its indicated range.

The offering of A shares, as yuan-denominated stock trading on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges is called, received orders from Chinese investors totaling 3.383 trillion yuan ($456.5 billion), surpassing the 3.378 trillion yuan ($455.9 billion) record set by PetroChina (nyse: PTR - news - people ), according to China Securities Journal. PetroChina tapped 66.8 billion yuan ($9 billion) in its IPO in Shanghai last month, making it China’s biggest IPO so far.

China Railway Group will also issue 3.326 billion so-called H shares in Hong Kong priced somewhere between 5.03 to 5.78 Hong Kong dollars (64 to 74 cents) per share, raising up to 19.2 billion Hong Kong dollars ($2.5 billion). The international tranche of China Railway’s new issues in Hong Kong has been more than 15 times oversubscribed, according to a market source. The company began public subscriptions in Hong Kong Friday and will finalize the H share IPO price next week. Read the rest of this entry »

All BRIC economies are focussing on investment in infrastructure. There is unprecedented urgency to spend on roadways, railway, airports, power, real estate,..etc. This gives a good demand for Steel and other metal industries. Investors are surely having a good ride on some of these stocks.

Moscow Times reports

As Muscovites wrap up warm this week with the onset of winter, investors are still looking for exposure to this year’s big story, the government’s infrastructure spending.

President Vladimir Putin last week backed plans to plow $191 billion into the power and railway sectors, and $53 billion of that for transportation, by 2011.

But it is the metals sector that is tugging on investor sentiment, and since Putin first started talking in July about the government’s plans to sink lots of cash into the infrastructure of the country’s Olympic bid-winning city, Sochi, steel stocks have enjoyed an impressive run.

Renaissance Capital investment bank said Friday that the increased spending plans would be good for rail stocks and the suppliers of railways, particularly steelmaker Evraz.

“It’s not a massive amount of money,” said Tom Mundy, equity strategist at Renaissance. “But it’s certainly enough to draw attention to the story again. The key question is when will the companies actually see this filter down.”

While the bank identified a couple of transportation picks — Far East Shipping Co. and Rhythm — steel, and Evraz especially, remains the obvious entry card for most investors. Read the rest of this entry »

Another big story from India. Reliance Power is going to the capital market for its expansion plans. As we know there is a huge shortage of Power and it only furthers the gap as the economy grows. Huge investment is required to meet the demand of consumers and industries. This IPO is definitely in the right direction as far as raising capital for infrastructure development in India.

Reliance Power IPO

Reliance Power Limited has recently filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI.

Reliance Power Limited IPO which would be one of the biggest IPO in Indian stock markets which will issue 130 crore equity shares of Rs 2 each at a price to be decided later.

The net issue to the public would be 114 crore equity shares after the promotors contribution of 16 crore equity shares.Reliance Power IPO will constitute 11.5% of the post issue paid-up capital of the company and the net issue will constitute 10.1% of the post issue paid-up capital of the company.


The company plans to raise close to USD 3.5 B from this offering.

Everytime we talk about Amchi Mumbai there is a big nostalgia for all ex-mumbaikars (as they call the residents of Mumbai). The city is known for its hustle and bustle life. There is tremendous amount of energy there and its known for its Financial Markets, Commodities markets, Bollywood, Corporate Houses, Fashion, Underworld…There is nothing wrong in saying Mumbai is putting together New York, LA and Paris in one city.

About 20M live in this city and daily there is a huge influx from all over India to earn a livelihood. Every person who has made it big here has come from outside the city. Naturally the city is choking and the muncipal budget to maintain and better the conditions is a paltry sum and add to it some corruption on top of it.

PM Manmohan Singh wants to change this and he had given a directive to his congress CM to comeout with a plan to make it a world class city and a financial hub. It is glad to know the CM has declared a plan today.

As reported by PTI news in Mid-Day,..

The Maharashtra government has drawn up an ambitious US $60 billion (Rs 2.25 lakh crore) action plan for makeover of Mumbai, aimed to convert India’s commercial capital into a global financial hub.

“Our government is serious on transforming Mumbai into a global financial centre and the plan is aimed at transforming the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) into a modern urban centre,” he said in an interview to PTI in Mumbai today, on the eve of his Democratic Front government completing three years. Read the rest of this entry »