Australia's Resourcehouse in $3.6 bn Hong Kong IPO

Australian miner Resourcehouse has revived plans to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange, in a share sale that it hopes will raise up to $3.6 billion, company officials said Monday. The firm, controlled by billionaire Clive Palmer, postponed its initial public offering in March over concerns about shaky stock markets, after two previous attempts to list since 2009 were also delayed. The Brisbane-based miner plans to sell 5.716 billion shares for between HK$4.48 and HK$4.93 each (58-63 US cents), with a listing on the Hong Kong exchange planned on June 10, a spokesman in Hong Kong told AFP. An over-allotment option to issue up to 857.4 million additional shares, representing up to 15 percent of the share offer will be exercised if the shares are over-subscribed, the firm said in a statement. A listing in Hong Kong will allow the firm which is currently focused on thermal coal and iron ore mining projects to boost its profile in China, where demand for resources is growing. The mining company plans to use a large part of the proceeds from the IPO to fund a thermal-coal project in Central Queensland and an iron-ore project in Western Australia, according to its prospectus. Both projects are scheduled to start commercial production in 2014. Resourcehouse's latest listing plan comes after Swiss firm Glencore, the world's biggest commodities trader by revenue, raised about $10 billion though a dual listing in London and Hong Kong this month. Resourcehouse originally planned to list in November 2009, but postponed a roadshow as it prepared for an investment by Metallurgical Corp. of China. Metallurgical, which bought a five percent stake in Resourcehouse for $200 million, said in February that it would start an investor roadshow for its Hong Kong IPO, but the firm pulled back again as stock markets were hammered by Greece's debt woes.