Saturday 14 November 2009

Wilmar Delays $3.5 Bln China IPO, to Invest in Africa

Food Industry News


Wilmar Delays $3.5 Bln China IPO, to Invest in Africa
Source: Reuters
12/11/2009

Singapore, Nov 12 - Wilmar International, the world's largest listed palm oil firm, signalled a promising outlook for its earnings but said the $3.5 billion listing of its China unit is on hold due to its concern over valuations.

The palmoil giant's listing plan was the recent trigger for a rally in its shares, which retreated on Thursday despite a quarterly profit that beat expectations.

"We will shelve it for the time being and wait for market conditions to improve," Wilmar's Chairman and CEO Kuok Khoon Hong told Reuters after a media and analysts' briefing for its third quarter results.

"We only will list the China operation if it commands better price than what Wilmar is commanding right now in the stock market," he added.

Analysts have estimated that Wilmar's China unit could be valued as by much as 20 times earnings, matching the parent company's current price-to-earnings multiple.

With more than 30 firms eyeing listings in either Hong Kong or India over the next few months, leading to more than $10 billion in share sales, companies wanting to list have had to keep their hopes for high prices in check..

Analysts have said Wilmar, which has a market value of $30 billion, has no immediate need for funds.

The company said it was optimistic about prospects for the rest of this year after a one-off gain helped it post a better-than-expected 35 percent rise in its third quarter profit.

Analysts were less impressed.

"Excluding exceptional and one-off items, Wilmar's operating performance in 3Q09 was not as strong as we would expect from normal seasonality," Goldman Sachs analyst Patrick Tiah said in a research note.

"Notwithstanding, given the market's low expectations we believe consensus earnings could rise following the results," he added.

Wilmar's Kuok said the company plans to invest at least $1 billion in China, Indonesia and Africa to expand its plantations and plants.

The company has raised profits in the last few quarters thanks to its processing and refining capabilities, outperforming rival palm oil firms that depend primarily on plantations.

LISTING

Wilmar's shares have more than doubled this year, but some analysts cut their ratings after the company delayed plans in late September to float its China unit due to volatile markets. The listing would have raised around $3.5 billion.

CEO Kuok said earlier in a statement that he was optimistic about the firm's prospects for the rest of the financial year given the diversity of its business segments.

Wilmar, derives about half of its total sales from China, and owns oil palm plantations and runs crushing and refining plants in Indonesia and Malaysia.

The company, the second-largest on the Singapore Exchange after Singapore Telecommunications, earned $653 million in July-September, up from $483 million a year ago.

Wilmar's earnings were higher than the average forecast of $500 million provided by three analysts surveyed by Reuters.

Wilmar's shares have jumped 136 percent so far this year, outperforming the broader index which rose around 54 percent.

On Thursday its share price traded 1.06 percent lower while the broader market was down by 0.4 percent.

http://www.flex-news-food.com/pages/26906/Palm-Oil/Singapore/wilmar-delays-$35-bln-china-ipo-invest-africa.html

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