PRESS DIGEST - Hong Kong - Sept 9

HONG KONG, Sept 9 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in Hong Kong newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

-- Geely Automobile (0175.HK) confirmed its parent company was talking to Ford Motor (F.N) about buying its Swedish unit Volvo, according to executive director Gui Shengyue, who said the parent company would make sure any acquisition would not create a conflict of interest with the listed unit.

-- China Vanadium Titano-Magnetite Mining and mainland sportswear retailer Peak Sport Products aim to launch initial public offerings of shares in Hong Kong next month, raising a combined $450 million, according to market sources familiar with the deals.

HONG KONG ECONOMIC TIMES

-- The international placement portion of the initial public offering of shares of Sinopharm Group, China's largest pharmaceutical distributor, is seen as 22 times oversubscribed, receiving about $23 billion worth of subscriptions. The company is also likely to price its shares at top of the indicated range of HK$12.25-HK$16 each, according to market sources.

MING PAO

-- Cheung Kong (0001.HK) is seen selling a total of 3,800 apartments this year, compared to a target of 3,000 set earlier this year and a 17 percent increase on last year, generating HK$20 billion ($2.58 billion), according to executive director Justin Chiu.

WEN WEI PO

-- China Pharmaceutical (1093.HK) posted a 20 percent rise in profit for the first half of the year to HK$535 million, but chairman Cai Dongchen said its sales revenue only increased 11.5 percent and had not met its target.

APPLE DAILY

-- Standard Chartered (2888.HK), one of Hong Kong's three note-issuing banks, announced it would issue the world's first 150-dollar denomination banknotes to mark its 150-year history in Hong Kong. The bank said it would offer one million of the commemorative charity banknotes for sale to the public.

(Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)

For Chinese newspapers, see...............[PRESS/CN]

For Taiwan newspapers, see............[PRESS/TW] ($1=7.749 Hong Kong Dollar)