BOC, Beijing Capital Int鈥檒 Airport ink financing agreement

Jul. 16, 2009 (China Knowledge) - Bank of China<601988><3988>, the largest foreign exchange lender in China, on Tuesday signed a financing agreement with Beijing Capital International Airport Co Ltd<0694>, the country's largest airport operator, said BOC in a statement yesterday.

Pursuant to the agreement, BOC will offer a credit line of up to RMB 50 billion to Beijing Airport.

Beijing Airport, which runs the airport in China's capital, will use the money to upgrade airport facilities and develop new tourism attractions in the country, according to the statement.

Zhang Zhihong, chairman of Beijing Airport, said on Friday that the airport operator will be listed in the domestic market this year, but he did not give the timetable or the size of the domestic share offering, according to an earlier report from China Knowledge.

In the first half of this year, Beijing Airport's passenger volume rose 19% from a year earlier to 30.9 million. The volume is likely to exceed the target of 62 million passengers in 2009.