Anhui Conch to invest $2.15 bln in western China-papers

HONG KONG, May 16 (Reuters) - Anhui Conch Cement Co Ltd (0914.HK)(600585.SS) will invest 15 billion yuan ($2.15 billion) in western China over the next three years to meet reconstruction demand after the devastating earthquake that struck the region, newspapers said.

Anhui Conch, China's top cement maker, will start building a plant with an initial annual capacity of 5 million tonnes in Sichuan, the worst-hit province in China's deadliest earthquake in decades, in the second half of this year, the South China Morning Post said on Friday.

"We hope to reach 50 million tonnes in production capacity per year in western China in five years," it quoted Anhui Conch's director Guo Jingbin as saying.

Anhui Conch, which currently has no production facilities in western China, will spend 15 billion yuan to set up the factory in Sichuan and new plants in Chongqing, Gansu, Guizhou and Shaanxi provinces, the Hong Kong Economic Times said.

The company, which has a strong foothold in eastern and southern China, said on Wednesday that it would issue up to 11.5 billion yuan of domestic A shares to fund the expansion of cement and clinker production lines.

For full statement please see here Anhui's shares have risen more than 7 percent this week on expectation of strong cement demand for reconstruction.

($1=6.994 Yuan) (Reporting by Alison Leung; edited by Jonathan Hopfner)