Shanghai Daily news

JP Morgan and Stark Investment have underwritten convertible bonds and equity shares worth US$150 million issued by China Greentown Group, one of the nation's largest private developers.
Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province-based Greentown said in a statement yesterday that the consortium managed a bond sale in the Singapore stock market for it on January 10.
The two US investors have also acquired an undisclosed ownership stake in the developer.
Greentown, which has more than 40 ongoing development projects across the country, has been actively seeking more financing tools since domestic banks restricted lending to the real estate industry last year.
JP Morgan and Stark Investment will also help Greentown secure an overseas listing to raise more capital in the near future, according to Song Weiping, Greentown's board director.
The deal is the latest example of involvement by overseas institutional investors in expanding domestic developer's financing channels.
"With a slowdown in volume and a drop in housing prices starting from the second half of last year, developers in China definitely feel pressure financially," said Michael T. Hart, head of research at Jones Lang LaSalle Shanghai.
Shanghai Greenland Group, one of the city's largest developers, last month received a 700 million yuan (US$87 million) loan from Hypo Real Estate Bank International, a German real estate fund, to finance residential projects in the city.
In the same month, China Vanke Co Ltd set up a real estate fund with Hong Kong-based Citic Capital Markets Holdings Ltd, to raise up to US$150 million.
Ralph X. Parks, Asia chairman of JPMorgan, expects the investment return from the Greentown deal will be no less than 20 percent. Greentown said its sales maintained growth last year despite the industry downtown.