Bohai Industrial Investment Fund, the nation's first private
equity firm, will make its debut investment today, a milestone for
the nation's fledgling PE sector.
The private equity pioneer will acquire a minority stake for
about 1.5 billion yuan in cash in Tianjin Pipe (Group) Corp, the
country's largest maker of steel pipes for building oil pipelines,
the fund said yesterday.
The two companies will sign the deal today in Tianjin, North
China's largest port city, where both are located.
Tianjin Pipe estimates output of a million tons of steel pipes
this year, accounting for 50 percent of the domestic market. The
company was formerly backed by local government.
The pipe manufacturer said it will notch up 37 billion yuan in
annual sales revenue and 1.6 billion yuan in net profit by the end
of this year.
It posted net profit of 1.38 billion yuan for 2006, up 46
percent from the 947 million yuan in earnings the previous year.
Its total assets were 21.14 billion yuan at the end of last
year.
As China's first private equity fund, Bohai Industrial was
approved on December 30 last year.
With 20 billion yuan in capital under management, the fund is 53
percent-controlled by Bank of China Ltd. Its other shareholders
include BOC International (China) Ltd, China Life Insurance Co, the
Postal Savings Bank of China, the National Council of Social
Security Fund, China Development Bank and TEDA International
Holding Co.
(China Daily November 2, 2007)
