Company aims to buy assets and own its complete supply chain

BEIJING - SAIC Motor Group, China's largest automaker by sales volume and revenue, announced that its asset-restructuring plan has received the green light from Chinese authorities.

The approval brings SAIC Motor closer to its goal of becoming the first listed Chinese automaker to own its entire automobile-manufacturing chain.

The subsidiary of Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (Group) said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange late on Tuesday that the China Securities Regulatory Commission has approved its plan to raise funds and purchase assets from its parent company.

However the company said that the approval is conditional, but it didn't provide further detailed information.

SAIC Motor's shares, together with those of a related subsidiary, Huayu Automotive Systems Co, resumed trading in Shanghai on Wednesday, following their suspension on July 29, pending approval of the plan.

SAIC Motor's shares closed at 16.95 yuan ($2.63), down 0.24 percent, while Huayu Automotive's shares dropped 2.15 percent to 10.46 yuan apiece.

According to their suspension statements, SAIC Motor will take over its parent's auto assets - equal to a 60.1 percent stake in the auto-parts supplier Huayu and other auto-related assets in 21 sub-companies, worth a total of 28.6 billion yuan - by issuing 1.73 billion shares at 16.53 yuan each, according to preliminary estimates.

After the all-share deal, the managements of SAIC Group and SAIC Motor will merge, said the statement.

The restructuring will help SAIC Motor, the Chinese partner of Volkswagen AG and General Motors Co, acquire operations in auto-parts manufacturing, automobile-related service and trading, financing, and new-energy car technologies from its parent, which currently owns about 80 percent of SAIC Motor.

Wang Jianzhang, secretary of SAIC Motor's chairman, said earlier this year that the company hopes to merge its capabilities in car and parts manufacturing.

By doing this it aims to strengthen its competitiveness in the global market as well as establishing a competitive new-energy vehicle industry chain for future development.

Analysts said that the restructuring - which will increase SAIC Motor's profitability, competitiveness and car-making capabilities - will provide a new profit engine and improve the company's sustainable development over the long term.

"There is a trend developing among Chinese automakers to raise funds using new listings, either by restructuring their assets, or by completely new listings," said Namrita Chow, senior analyst with the research company IHS Automotive.

"Chinese automakers are keen to raise their competitiveness in the global auto market. For SAIC Motor the assets in components and logistics companies will give the automaker a stronger footprint," Chow said.

"Moreover, the shares in Anji-TNT Automotive Logistics Co Ltd and Huayu will also bring in revenue as these companies continue to see growth."

Recently, the trend among local Chinese automakers to raise funds by new listings or restructuring of assets has gained momentum.

This year, BYD Co Ltd chose to list on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, while another Hong Kong-listed automaker, Great Wall Motor Co Ltd, plans a listing on the Chinese mainland.

Meanwhile FAW Group Corp also plans to float its major auto assets through a new listing.

"The funds are aimed at raising the competitiveness of Chinese automakers - by expanding technical ability, raising research-and-development capacity and increasing awareness of their brands in both the local and overseas markets," Chow said.

China Daily

(China Daily 08/04/2011 page14)