On February 15, Shanghai World Expo Land Holding Co.,Ltd. began selling 4 billion Yuan (US$516 million) of bonds to fund the construction of exhibition halls to be opened in 2010.

The company will sell 2 billion yuan of 10-year securities carrying a fixed annual interest rate of 4.05 percent and 2 billion yuan of 15-year bonds with a fixed 4.15 percent annual rate.

Shenyin & Wanguo Securities Co will manage the second batch of World Expo bond sales, which will end on March 1.

The first batch of 1.5 billion yuan World Expo bonds, carrying a fixed annual interest rate of 4 percent, was sold from December 28, 2005 to January 4, 2006.

Shanghai Vice Mayor, Yang Xiong, member of the Organising Committee of the World Expo 2010 Shanghai, Zhong Yanqun, standing deputy director of the World Expo 2010 Shanghai Executive Committee attended the ceremony.