Scraps plan to raise funds

SHANXI Coking Co, the largest publicly traded coke producer in China, scrapped a plan to raise as much as 3 billion yuan (US$439 million) in a share sale after equity markets tumbled and coke prices fell.

The Hongdong, Shanxi Province-based company had until yesterday to complete the sale to as many as 10 institutional investors after winning regulatory approval six months ago, Shanxi Coking said yesterday in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. But it had to terminate the plan according to the regulations, it said.

China's key stock index has plunged 64 percent this year after almost tripling in 2007, forcing companies to delay or cancel share sales. The price of coke, used in blast furnaces to make steel, has slumped 49 percent from a September 1 record on concern slowing automobile and property sales will crimp demand.

The company had planned to use the proceeds from the sale to improve a coke oven and to build chemical plants. It slashed the asking price for the share sale by as much as 71 percent to 6.24 yuan each on October 7 from 21.20 yuan originally.