Five Chinese firms issued seven short-term bonds worth 10.9 billion yuan in line with state regulations, a report published on the website of the People's Bank of China (PBC), the central bank, said Friday.

The report said that the five firms, including three listed companies, are the Huaneng International Power Sharing Corporation, the Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Share-holding Co., the Air China Share-holding Co., the China Minmetals Group and the State Development and Investment Corporation.

The seven short-term bonds have terms ranging from three months, six months, nine months and 12 months. The interest rate of the 12- month term bonds is 2.9 percent.

Eight financial institutions, including the country's four major commercial banks, as well as the Everbright Bank, were authorized Thursday by the PBC to sell the bonds to qualified institutional investors.

The move, which can save 266 million yuan for the five firms, came after PBC allowed eligible enterprises to sell short-term bonds to qualified institutional investors in the country's inter- bank market Tuesday.

Thursday's China Securities Journal reported that under a deal signed 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 to the listed Huaneng International Power Sharing Corporation.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, another major state- owned bank will sell short-term bonds for the Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Share-holding Co. However, the report did not say on how many bonds the company plans to issue.

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

Enterprises issuing such bonds are required to file at the central bank. The regulation change excludes the public. Businesses are only allowed to sell the bonds to institutional investors.

Source: Xinhua