What’s new: Chia Tai Investment Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group Co. Ltd. (CP Group), is preparing to go public (link in Chinese) on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, according to a filing released by China’s securities regulator.
The animal feed company indirectly owned by Thailand’s richest family is receiving prelisting advice from Citic Securities Co. Ltd., one of China’s largest investment banks.
What’s the background: CP Group, also known as Chia Tai Group on the Chinese mainland, is owned by Dhanin Chearavanont’s family, which has ranked at the top of Thailand’s Forbes rich list for years. The multinational conglomerate operates agriculture, food, retail, pharmaceuticals, property and finance businesses, and had global sales of $68 billion (link in Chinese) in 2019.
Chia Tai Investment, which specializes in feed milling operations, would buy 43 companies encompassing breeding, farming, slaughtering and food processing in China’s 22 provincial-level regions through a deal valued at about 28 billion yuan ($4.1 billion), in a bid to strengthen its operations by expanding access to China’s swine market, its parent company said in September.
China has the world’s largest swine market, and pork is the country’s most widely consumed meat. The deal is widely seen as Chia Tai Investment’s response to China’s resumption of pork production in the wake of the deadly African swine fever crisis that broke out in 2018 and wiped out much of its domestic hog supply.
Related: Smelling Post-Swine Fever Opportunity, Thai CP Group Gets Into the China Pork Business
Contact reporter Luo Meihan (meihanluo@caixin.com) and editor Heather Mowbray (heathermowbray@caixin.com)
