A state-controlled real estate company in China is seeking to list a 51 percent stake in a subsidiary engaged in distant-water fishing operations.
The initial public offering of the Zhuhai Haikong Ocean Fishing Co. would raise CNY 27.3 million (USD 4.4 million, EUR 3.8 million) according to a prospectus issued by Gree Real Estate – a conglomerate with major real estate, retail, and port businesses, as well as a finance arm.
According to company registration details, Gree invested CNY 50 million (USD 8 million, EUR 7 million) worth of capital into the company when it established Zhuhai Haikong in 2015 as a company to both catch and trade seafood. A corporate financial statement, prepared by accounting firm Grant Thornton, show Zhuhai Haikong lost CNY 166 million (USD 26.5 million, EUR 23.2 million) on revenues of CNY 496 million (USD 79.3 million, EUR 69.4 million) in 2021.
Gree Real Estate is controlled by Zhuhai Investment Holdings Company, which is controlled by the government in the city of the same name, adjacent to Macau and Hong Kong. The Zhuhai Haikong listing has a better chance of receiving approved from China’s financial regulation agencies, given the company is ultimately an asset of the state, which also supervises the stock market and controls the country’s financial services sector.
A privately owned seafood firm, Asia Fishing Port, had its application for an IPO rejected in recent months, though the firm had sought to cast itself as a technology company with a concentration in fisheries rather than a seafood processor.
Photo courtesy of Gree Real Estate
