Three listed Chinese firms will raise funds by more than 7 billion yuan (about 850 million US dollars) through issuing short-term bonds, Thursday's Beijing-based China Securities Journal reported.

The move came after China's central bank, the People's Bank of China (PBC), allowed eligible enterprises to sell short-term bonds to qualified institutional investors in the country's inter-bank market on Tuesday.

Under a deal signed on Wednesday, the China Construction Bank, one of the four major state-owned commercial banks, will sell 5 billion yuan (some 600 million US dollars) worth of short-term bonds for the listed Huaneng International Power Sharing Corporation.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, another major state-owned bank, was authorized on Wednesday by the central bank to sell short-term bonds for the Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Share-holding Co.

However, the report did not elaborate on how many bonds the company plans to issue.

The Bank of China also announced on Wednesday it would sell 2 billion yuan (240 million US dollars) in short-term bonds for Air China Share-holding Co.

A signed article on the front page of the paper listed three benefits for the listed firms to raise funds through issuing short-term bonds, including low cost and flexibility. It is also helpfulfor the firms to establish credit as they are required to publish financial statements regularly.

Enterprises issuing such bonds are required to file at the central bank. Excluding the public, the businesses are only allowed to sell the bonds to institutional investors.

Source: Xinhua