Biofuel producer to launch IPO in HK

Dragon Power, a Beijing-based company that generates power from biofuels, plans to raise as much as US$2 billion from an initial public offering in Hong Kong next year, sources say. The alternative power producer this year began generating energy at biofuel power plants in Hebei and Shandong provinces, according to a June report in the mainland magazine New Economic Guidance. The company started a 50-50 joint venture called National Bio Energy in 2005 with Shenzhen State Power Scientech Development, a subsidiary of State Grid Corp. The government had approved the construction of 29 electricity generation plants driven by biofuel, said another executive cited in the report. Beijing in June stopped approving new corn-based fuel ethanol plants amid fears that rising grain prices would boost inflation. (August 7, 2007)