Beihai Port to buy $324 mln in assets from parent

SHANGHAI, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Beihai Port Co (000582.SZ) said on Friday it will buy port assets worth 2.22 billion yuan ($324 million) from its state parent via a share placement deal.

Beihai Port will issue 288 million shares to its parent at 7.71 yuan a share, or a 3.75 percent discount to its last closing price of 8.01 yuan on July 10, it said in a statement.

In return, it will take control of two ports from the parent group, it said, adding that the parent group had promised not to sell the shares within three years upon completion of the deal.

The assets, which generated an unaudited net profit of 50.72 million yuan in 2007, will bolster Beihai Port's profitability and competitiveness, the company said.

In the first half, Beihai Port booked a 4.26 million yuan net profit, turning around a net loss of 11.09 million yuan a year earlier. ($1=6.848 Yuan) (Reporting by Fang Yan; Editing by Edmund Klamann)