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Hot on the heels of a lacklustre listing by Swiss commodities and mining behemoth Glencore, news comes of another multi-billion dollar natural resources IPO going awry.
Resourcehouse planned to raise $3.6bn on the Hong Kong market on Thursday but has now postponed the listing to at least the end of the month. The Australian iron ore and coal miner has made three previous attempts to go public in 2009 and 2010.
It could turn out to be just a short term glitch as investors’ appetites are gauged but talk of a market bubble – particularly in iron ore and steel – has become louder in recent weeks. On top of that, the prospect of higher interest rates in China slowing growth is supplying ample ammunition to short sellers. The fact that Resourcehouse’s two mega coal projects are called ‘China First’ would also not be lost on newly sceptical investors.
“The 19-commodity Reuters-Jefferies CRB index has fallen in 11 of the 17 past sessions, highlighting the volatility in commodities since the end of April.”
The Sydney Morning Herald reports:
“The IPO proceeds will be used to develop Resourcehouse’s $8 billion China First thermal coal project in Queensland and a $2.7 billion iron ore project of the same name in Western Australia.”
The UK’s Guardian newspaper reports:
“The market for share offerings has been unpredictable, with at least ten European initial public offerings in the last three months being pulled at the last minute. All London IPOs so far this year are trading under water, or below their offer price.”
MINING.com reported on Friday:
“Everyone who has money is rushing to invest in iron ore,” Baosteel Group chairman, Xu Lejiang said on Friday, warning that supply may outstrip demand “sooner than expected” pushing prices down in the process.
