PRESS DIGEST - Hong Kong - June 25

HONG KONG, June 25 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in Hong Kong newspapers on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

-- Executive director Wang Xin of Guangdong Development Bank, partly owned by Citigroup, has been arrested by police. The arrest is seen to be linked to his duties before the Chinese bank was restructured, according to a mainland media report.

-- The Airport Authority of Hong Kong, operator of Hong Kong International Airport, expects a further drop in passenger numbers due to the economic downturn, the outbreak of H1N1 influenza and expanded direct flights from China to Taiwan.

HONG KONG ECONOMIC JOURNAL

-- The international placing portion of the initial public offering of Chinese coal trader China Qinfa Group is seen eight times oversubscribed while the retail portion was 96 times oversubscribed, according to sources close to the deal.

MING PAO

-- Investment fund Capital Research and Management Co on Friday sold 1.73 million shares of Esprit Holdings (0330.HK) at an average price of HK$46.28 each for HK$80.4 million, reducing its stake in the fashion group to 9.89 percent from 10.92 percent, according to a stock exchange disclosure. It was the ninth time the fund has reduced its stake in Esprit this year, cutting its stake to below 10 percent from 18 percent.

-- The Airport Authority of Hong Kong posted a 14 percent rise in net profit for the year ended March to HK$2.59 billion ($332 million) and will distribute HK$2.2 billion in a final dividend to the Hong Kong government.

TA KUNG PAO

-- Zhejiang Province-based natural gas-fired power plant operator Amber Energy Ltd. is seeking to raise up to HK$166 million by selling 100 million shares to fund the purchase of a power plant, market sources said.

WEN WEI PO

-- HSBC Holdings (0005.HK) added HK$4 billion to a small and medium-sized enterprise loan fund, bringing the fund's size to HK$12 billion in total, according to John Coverdale, the Asia-Pacific managing director of the commercial bank.

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