Riding on the waves of Taiwan depository receipt (TDR) issuances, Singapore-based Oceanus Group Ltd (歐聖集團), the world’s largest inland abalone breeder, yesterday saw its shares close limit-up on its first day of trading.
The company’s stock closed 7 percent higher at NT$10.15 (US$0.3) on the last trading day of the year.
The listing price of its TDR at NT$9.5 was a discount of 7.8 percent over its share price in Singapore on Wednesday despite the earlier 7.7 percent premium on the day it announced its TDR price. This was because the TDR listing news boosted the share in Singapore.
Oceanus issued 200 million TDR units, aiming to raise a total of NT$1.9 billion. Its TDR issuance is the first by a purely Singaporean firm.
Oceanus chairman Ng Cher Yew (黃子耀) told reporters that the funds gathered through the listing will help it purchase packaging and processing abalone firms in Taiwan. It will also be used to open its abalone restaurants here, with the first set to open in Xinyi District in the first quarter.
Currently, its cafe-style restaurant chain under the brand “Ah Yat Tian Xia” (阿一天下) — which serves abalone-based meals through a joint venture with Hong Kong’s Ah Yat Abalone Group (阿一鮑魚) — has 20 outlets in China and Singapore. The outlets are expected to expand to 70 this year and as many as 150 next year, Ng said.
He forecast that the business prospects would be rosy this year with demand expected to exceed supply and Oceanus’ compound earnings growth rate is expected to maintain 30 percent over the next few years.
Abalone prices have soared by 40 percent since October thanks to scarce supplies, as rising ocean temperatures and natural disasters over the past two years caused huge losses for breeders. Supply will only stabilize in two to three years’ time, the company said.
Established in Singapore in 1998, Oceanus currently has 41 abalone breeding farms spread along the coasts of China’s Fujian and Guangdong provinces. It commands around 20 percent of the world’s abalone breeding market and 30 percent in China.
Oceanus reported earnings of US$28 million in 2008. The earnings for the first three quarters of last year totaled US$41 million.
Oceanus was one of 10 companies to join the TDR issuing last year. The others included Want Want China Holdings Ltd (旺旺), Ju Teng International Holdings Ltd (巨騰), New Focus Auto Tech Holdings Ltd (新焦點), Vietnam Manufacturing and Export Processing Holdings Ltd (越南製造) and Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp (康師傅控股).
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