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Chang Zhenming acknowledges headwinds brought by the stock market rout could delay or foil plans to list assets. Photo: David Wong

New | China's Citic to consolidate its Hong Kong and mainland property operations soon

Citic, China's largest state-backed conglomerate, is close to launching a consolidation of its real estate operations and plans to combine its mining-related units.

The Beijing-based company has drawn up a proposal on restructuring its human and financial resources across its property units in Hong Kong and China. 

"If there is no major change in circumstances, we expect to launch the real estate restructuring next month," deputy chairman Wang Jiong told reporters, after Citic posted a 46 per cent rise in net profit in the first half to HK$37.68 billion.

Excluding HK$12.2 billion of gains from the sale of a 3 per cent stake in Citic Securities and an accounting gain from the latter's new shares sale, pre-tax profit would have been HK$50 billion, 2.5 per cent higher than the year-earlier profit.

Revenue was HK$201.46 billion, flat compared to HK$200.62 billion in the year-earlier period.

Wang said Citic would also launch a "comprehensive consolidation" of its mining units into one platform.

The move will avoid business overlaps and enhance the value of its mining units, where some of the listed ones have seen their share prices fall below their net asset values, he added.

Chairman Chang Zhenming said Citic would also seek to separately list some of its businesses, including several on the mainland's National Equities Exchange and Quotations, an over-the-counter market known as the third board.

But he noted the headwind brought by the stock market rout in recent months, which would delay or foil its plans to list assets or seek strategic investors.

"Citic has pretty much completed its own [headquarters-level] fundraising activities that have bolstered our financial muscle a lot," he said, adding parent Citic Group's stake has been diluted to 58 per cent from about 78 per cent a year ago.

Citic has sold stakes to more than two dozen investors, including HK$58 billion worth of shares to Japanese trading giant Itochu, Thailand's CP Group and privately controlled Ningbo-based garment and real estate giant Youngor Group.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Citic plans to consolidate property operations soon
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