Fertilizer maker China BlueChemical Ltd, a sister company of top Chinese offshore oil firm CNOOC Ltd. , began marketing a Hong Kong initial public offering worth up to HK$2.66 billion (US$341 million).
China Blue plans to sell 1.4 billion shares at between HK$1.38 and HK$1.90 apiece, for a prospective price to earnings multiple of 7 times to 9.7 times for fiscal 2006, and 6.6 times to 9.1 times for fiscal 2007.
That values the company at a discount to Hong Kong-listed rival Sinochem Hong Kong Holdings Ltd., which trades at 18 times forecast earnings for 2007.
China Blue is selling 10 percent of its IPO shares to Norway-based fertilizer group Yara International, which has a three-year lock up period for its shares.
Another 25 percent of the offering will be sold to a group of corporate investors that includes Chinese Estates, BOC Group Investment and China Cinda Asset Management Corp., and tycoon Lee Shau Kee, the chairman of Henderson Land.
Those shares have a nine-month lock up period.
After a slow summer, Hong Kong's IPO market is heating up, with the $2.4 billion share sale by number six mainland lender China Merchants bank seeing heavy investor demand.
China Blue expects to distribute 20 to 30 percent of its profit as dividends, its preliminary prospectus said. It forecasts its 2006 net profit will leap by least 48.5 percent to 1.46 billion yuan (US$184 million) after it bought Tianye Chemical, a large fertilizer and chemical producer in China.
China Blue, a wholly owned subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corp., the state-owned parent of overseas-listed CNOOC, uses natural gas to produce fertilizer.
The firm has two urea production plants, in Hainan and Inner Mongolia, and a methanol production plant in Inner Mongolia. IPO proceeds will be used to develop new products, build production facilities to make polyoxymethylene, and to repay bank loans.
China Blue will begin taking share orders from retail investors on Sept. 18 and final pricing will be fixed on Sept. 22, with trading in the shares set to start on Sept 29.
UBS and JP Morgan are the sponsors of the share sale.
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Source:佚名