China Tuna Industry Group has announced it is pulling its IPO application due to “negative publicity” about its fishing practices from environmental activists.
China Tuna announced on 9 December it would be pulling its application from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange amid allegations that the company did not fish for tuna sustainably, but in a statement the company defended its practices.
“Dalian Ocean Fishing, China Tuna’s long-line tuna fishing subsidiary, is in compliance with all applicable policies and requirements of the People’s Republic of China and the relevant Regional Fishing Management Organizations (RFMOs), including the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission,” the company said in a statement.
Environmental activist group Greenpeace cited new data on bigeye tuna stocks in its criticism, arguing China Tuna did not include enough current data in its prospectus. The group claimed China Tuna “had understated the environmental and sustainability risks of the company's operations” in its IPO application.
“The withdrawal of CTI’s IPO proves that unsustainable fishing is highly risky, and will not get through the scrutiny of financial market regulation, nor attract responsible investors,” said Else Lee, Greenpeace’s senior business advisor for East Asia.
