Chalco to Raise Funds Through Loans After Share Sale Delay

BEIJING, July 6 -- Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd., China's largest maker of the metal, will seek bank loans after an equity market decline forced it to delay share sale plans.

The deadline for a planned sale of yuan-denominated shares in China would be pushed back by a year from Aug. 23, the Beijing-based company said today in a statement to the Shanghai stock exchange. Chalco, as the company is known, had earlier won approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to sell as many as 1 billion shares.

China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index has declined 27 percent this year, entering a bear market, amid concerns about slowing economic growth. Aluminum prices have dropped below the costs of production, putting pressure on smelters to cut output, Chalco President Luo Jianchuan said last month.

"The current market conditions are not favorable for the share sale and the company will seek bank loans," Shen Hui, a spokeswoman, said by phone from Beijing today.

Chalco rose 3.3 percent to HK$5.90 at 11:45 a.m. Hong Kong time, narrowing this year's decline to 31 percent. In Shanghai trading, the stock rose 2 percent to 8.76 yuan, taking this year's drop to 39 percent.