BizChina

China Hongqiao Group Ltd., a Chinese aluminum producer, plans to raise as much as US$2.2 billion from an initial public offering ahead of its Hong Kong listing on Feb. 11, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Hongqiao, which is located in Shandong province and mainly produces molten aluminum alloy, plans to sell 1.74 billion shares at an indicative price range of 7.10 to 9.90 Hong Kong dollars each (US$0.91 to US$1.27), the person said Saturday. There is a greenshoe option to increase the offering size 15% in the event of strong demand, which would boost the deal up to US$2.5 billion. Institutional bookbuilding will begin Monday.

Hongqiao officials couldn't be reached for comment.

China's economy unexpectedly accelerated in the fourth quarter of 2010 despite a series of tightening measures, spotlighting Beijing's difficulties managing growth and fueling market concerns about further government moves to combat inflation.

The fourth quarter's 9.8% expansion in China's gross domestic product makes it all but certain that China became the world's second largest economy in 2010, ending Japan's 42-year reign in that position—although Japan doesn't report its year-end economic data until next month. Acknowledging the milestone and the anxiety its impending arrival has caused some Japanese, Japan's minister of economic and fiscal policy, Kaoru Yosano, said it appears likely that China has surpassed Japan and that "the Japanese people should welcome our neighbor China's growth."

China's economy surpassed Japan's based on quarterly data for the two countries in the March-June period, but global rankings are generally based on full-year output. China's economy remains much smaller than that of the U.S: For the full year, China's GDP grew 10.3%—up from 9.2% growth in 2009—to about $5.88 trillion. The International Monetary Fund forecast in October that U.S. GDP would top $14.62 trillion.

President Obama’s joint press conference with Chinese President Hu Jintao at the White House Wednesday may be remembered more for its translation snafus than anything else. But the biggest news of the actual summit so far is the corporate dealmaking.

As a central feature of Hu’s state visit, the White House announced $45 billion worth of trade and investment deals with Beijing. China has approved the purchase of 200 planes from Boeing, for an estimated $19 billion. General Electric is part of several announced deals, including a project to expand high-speed rail in the U.S. using Chinese technology and a joint effort with Shenhua Gasification to building clean energy generators. American Electric Power and Duke Energy are also participating in clean energy projects in China.  The Obama administration says that Chinese companies have signed 70 contracts–in the agriculture, machinery, chemical and other sectors–that could boost exports in 12 states by a total of $25 billion.

Not long after Mark Zuckerberg paid visits to some of China’s biggest tech companies, another tech tycoon, Skype and Kazaa co-founder Niklas Zennström, is making the rounds as well. But unlike the young Facebook chief, Mr. Zennström is no stranger to the complexities of China’s market.

The 44-year-old Swede, who along with co-founder Janus Friis currently owns a 14% stake in Skype and sits on the company’s board, is in Beijing this week meeting with executives from Baidu, Alibaba Group, Lenovo, China Mobile and others. His visit happens to come in the wake of a media frenzy over Chinese government talk of a crackdown on voice-over-Internet-protocol, or VoIP, phone services—which some outlets interpreted as being aimed at Skype, even though there’s no evidence that Skype is the target and the company says it continues to operate as normal.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Zennström didn’t wade into the speculation over Skype’s fate in China. But he argued that VoIP services like Skype shouldn’t be seen as a threat to the legacy telecommunications industry. People “are not making fewer phone calls. As a matter of fact there are more phone calls made every year,” he said. “Communication is increasing.”

In addition, he pointed out, calls made from Skype to regular telephones are handled by traditional telecom operators, who are paid for the connections and therefore earn revenue from Skype. (This is true in China, too).