Beingmate considers Chinese state capital
Speculation Fonterra could sell its stake
Fonterra’s troubled Chinese partner Beingmate Baby & Child is in talks with state-owned firms about introducing capital as part of a strategic review.
This is leading to speculation Fonterra could look to sell its 18.8 per cent stake to Chinese government interests even as tensions build between the two countries over New Zealand’s push back against telco Huawei.
Beingmate announced on Tuesday it is negotiating “strategic cooperation and investor issues” involving the introduction of state-owned assets.
The company said it was working with controlling shareholder Beingmate Group, which is owned by its chairman Sam Xie, but has not signed any legally binding agreements.
State-owned investment and cooperation would “protect the company’s long-term strategic development and value realisation, help improve corporate governance and achieve transformation,” Beingmate said in its statement.
The announcement saw Beingmate shares listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange climb three per cent to 5.44 yuan before pulling back to 5.38 yuan yesterday.
The news comes as Fonterra reviews its poorly performing investment in the Chinese infant formula manufacturer along with other assets. Chairman John Monaghan has said the company was doing a “full stock take and portfolio review looking at all major investments, assets and joint ventures”.
Fonterra paid 18 yuan per share for a total outlay of $755 million as part of a joint venture partnership. It has since written down the carrying value to $204m after a string of heavy losses decimated Beingmate’s market value.
Guangzhou’s Yangcheng Evening News quoted dairy analyst Song Liang saying Beingmate courting Chinese Government-backed investment opportunities could offer a solution to both partners.
“Do not rule out that Fonterra really wants to withdraw, and then the shares are transferred to the stateowned background investors.” Fonterra declined to comment. Beingmate has shown improved financials after posting successive losses of 780m yuan ($164m) in 2016 and 1.06 billion yuan ($223m) in 2017.
The company turned in a profit of 19.43m yuan in the third quarter of 2018, and a nine month profit of 27.96m yuan, an increase of 107.3 per cent.