Business

Editor: Meng Qi
2 Sep 2008 09:41:46 GMT

Sep. 1, 2008 (China Knowledge) – China National Cereals, Oils & Foodstuffs Import and Export Corp (COFCO Group), the country’s largest food manufacturer and trader, plans to spin off its unit COFCO Packaging for an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong by the end of this year, aiming to raise at least HK$2 billion, the South China Morning Post reported.

The share sale plan is expected to become COFCO Group’s third listed unit in Hong Kong after China Agri-Industries Holdings Ltd<606>and China Foods Ltd<506>.

Citi and China International Corp have been assigned as sponsors and BOC International as a joint bookrunner, the newspaper cited some unnamed sources as saying.

In May, COFCO Group Chief Financial Officer Ma Wangjun said the company had no plan for group listing, instead, was more likely to spin off its specialized subsidiaries for separate listings. He also noted that COFCO might first let its livestock and packaging businesses go public in the mainland or Hong Kong stock markets.

The Hangzhou-based COFCO Packaging is a leading tinplate packager in China, and principally engaged in producing tinplated iron, metal and plastic containers. It is the owner of China Coated Iron Packing Containers Development Production Base, the country’s only national production base for the metal packaging industry, said the company on its website.