China copper producer Zhongtiaoshan closes in on backdoor listing

Jan 23 (Reuters) – Chinese copper producer Zhongtiaoshan Non-ferrous Metals Team is close to securing a backdoor listing for smelting unit Northern Copper following Shenzhen-traded Nafine Chemical Market Co declared particulars of a planned restructuring.

The listing will allow for Northern Copper, which is upgrading and increasing its Houma smelter in China’s Shanxi province, to be publicly traded on the Shenzhen Inventory Trade beneath Nafine’s stock code and elevate funding, with out the have to have for an initial public providing.

The elaborate deal, which is backed by the Shanxi authorities, will see Nafine，a salts and chemicals producer underneath Shanxi Coking Coal Group, get all of Northern Copper for 4.4 billion yuan ($679 million) in cash and shares, Nafine claimed in a submitting to the Shenzhen Inventory Trade late on Friday.

Zhongtiaoshan, a member of the group of 14 condition-backed Chinese copper producers recognised as the China Smelters Order Crew (CSPT), will receive most of these shares and turn out to be the controlling shareholder of Nafine with a 49.07% stake, Nafine claimed in the submitting.

The restructured enterprise will be ultimately controlled by the Shanxi authorities, Nafine claimed, adding that the offer desired the acceptance of China’s securities regulator.

Northern Copper, which counted South Korea’s SK Networks as a 45% shareholder from 2008-2014, will make very good use of the listing as a fundraising system, Zhongtiaoshan claimed in a statement on Dec. 31.

The revamp of the Houma smelter, which was shut in 2018, is supposed to raise Zhongtiaoshan’s general copper smelting capacity to 500,000 tonnes a 12 months. ($1 = 6.4810 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Tom Daly Editing by Robert Birsel)