China's business press carried the following stories on Friday. China.org.cn has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Minsheng falls below offering price on trading debut — Caijing Magazine

Shares of Minsheng Bank fell to as low as HK$8.8 (US$1.13) from its offering price of HK$9.08 (US$1.17), a 3.1 percent slump that stunned previously optimistic analysts.

Minsheng Bank raised US$3.8 billion through the sale of more than 3 billion shares in Hong Kong last week. The issue by China's seventh-largest lender, which is the world's fifth-biggest IPO so far this year, came amid concerns that Chinese banks would raise more capital from the market.

Dong Wenbiao, chairman of Minsheng, said that he is still confident in the shares because the drop just represents a temporary fluctuation.

CNPC to buy natural gas to ease shortage — Securities Daily

Facing a serious natural gas shortage, CNPC, China's largest oil and gas producer, announced recently that it plans to buy 700 million cubic meters of liquid natural gas from the spot market to ease the insufficient supply.

Zhang Guobao, director of the National Energy Administration, said the purchase will be supplied to eastern and southeastern China, including Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Fujian.

GAIG and Fiat build plant in Changsha — China Business News

A joint venture by Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group (GAIG) and Fiat began to build a production plant in Changcha, capital of Hunan province. The 5 billion yuan investment was made to produce the first batch of Fiat's Linea sedan over the next two years.

According to the plan, the 173-acre plant will have an annual production capacity of 140,000 cars and 220,000 engines by the end of 2011.

As early as July, Fiat announced that it would form a 50-50 joint venture with GAIG to produce cars and engines for the Chinese market, marking a substantial step for the Italian car marker in expanding its presence in China.

Fiat has been looking for a new local partner since it terminated an unsuccessful partnership with Nanjing Auto in late 2007. GAIG is a major state-owned automaker which already has joint ventures with Honda and Toyota.