A state-controlled Chinese real estate company has abandoned plans for a listing of a 51 percent stake in its subsidiary engaged in distant-water fishing.
The initial public offering of the Zhuhai Haikong Ocean Fishing Co. was expected to raise CNY 27.3 million (USD 4.36 million, EUR 3.82 million) according to a prospectus issued by Gree Real Estate.
Zhuhai, China-based Gree – a conglomerate with major real estate, retail, and port businesses controlled by the state-owned Zhuhai Investment Holdings Company – established Haikong in 2015 as part of an effort to diversify its commercial activity away from the heavily leveraged real estate sector.
According to company registration information, Gree put CNY 50 million (USD 8 million, EUR 7 million) capital into the company when it established Zhuhai Haikong. But the company has struggled with profitability – a financial review prepared by accounting firm Grant Thornton revealed Zhuhai Haikong lost CNY 166 million (USD 26.5 million, EUR 23.2 million) on revenue of CNY 496 million (USD 79.3 million, EUR 69.4 million) in 2021.
The stalling of Haikong’s IPO project follows the 2021 rejection of Asia Fishing Port’s own application for an IPO. The privately owned seafood processing and trading firm had sought to cast itself as a fisheries technology company, rather than a fish processor.
Photo courtesy of Gree Real Estate
