A rock, not a hard place

摘要

It Can sometimes feel as if bankers in Asia are shifting their focus backwards along the economic food chain. First they moved from manufacturing to property. Now it's the turn of rocks. In Hong Kong alone seven mining and natural-resources firms have gone public this year, raising HK$36 billion ($4.6 billion) in the process. Another 13 listed in 2009, raising HK$58 billion, up from not very much the year before. A further 10-15 firms are due to list over the next year and the sums raised will almost certainly be bigger than before, thanks to Asia's appetite for raw materials and inexorably rising commodities prices.