Tuesday, March 1, 2011

CIC, Temasek May Buy 39% Stake in Shanghai Jahwa, FT Reports

Sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp. and Singapore state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings Pte. may bid for a 39 percent stake in Chinese cosmetics maker Shanghai Jahwa United Co., the Financial Times reported without citing anyone.

Shanghai Jahwa is also speaking with private bidders, the newspaper said today, citing an interview with Chairman Ge Wenyao. He declined to identify them. Ping An Insurance Group Co. also may bid for the stake from the Shanghai government, the report said without citing anyone.

The 39 percent stake may be worth 6.1 billion yuan ($929 million), based on the Shanghai-based company’s closing share price of 37.13 yuan on Dec. 3. The stock has been suspended from trading in Shanghai since then. Shanghai Jahwa surged 62 percent in the year until the trading halt.

Shanghai’s government is consolidating companies to improve competitiveness. Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding Co. completed a merger of two local drugmakers through a share swap in September. Shanghai Airlines Co. was delisted from the exchange in January after it was acquired by larger city rival China Eastern Airlines Corp.

16 Percent Growth

Shanghai Guosheng Group Co. owns about 38 percent of the cosmetics maker, which has about 423 million shares outstanding, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

A CIC spokeswoman who declined to be identified because of company policy wouldn’t comment on the report. A person who answered the phone at the investment-and-development department of state-owned Shanghai Guosheng declined to comment.

Shanghai Jahwa board secretary Feng Jun, and Jeffrey Fang and Tan Yong Meng, Temasek spokesmen, declined to comment.

The restructuring of the company is due to take place in April or May, according to the Financial Times.

China’s skincare market grew at a compound annual rate of 16 percent from 2004 to 2009, and total sales are expected to reach 91 billion yuan by 2014, according to data from Euromonitor International.

Source: www.bloomberg.com

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