DaChan Food (Asia), a major supplier of chicken meat to McDonald's and KFC on the mainland, is seeking to raise as much as HK$930 million from an initial public offering. The company is selling 310 million shares in the listing due next month, according to a sale document given to institutional investors. Of the total offering, 80.64 per cent will be new shares and the remainder existing shares to be divested by the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) and Conti Group. The shares are priced between HK$2.20 and HK$3.00, translating into 10 to 14 times the firm's earnings next year, sources said. 'GIC has invested in DaChan for more than 10 years and it's reasonable to sell half its holdings when the firm goes public,' a source said, adding GIC is likely to keep the rest for the long term. DaChan is seeking funds to expand and capitalise on fast-growing demand for chicken meat from restaurant chains. The company is the mainland unit of Taiwan's DaChan Great Wall Enterprise. It can produce 23,264 tonnes of chicken meat per month. Cazenove Asia is the sole global co-ordinator and sponsor of the offering while Guotai Junan Securities is one of the syndicated members. The international roadshow started yesterday and will close on September 25. Retail investors can place orders from September 20-25 and trading is set to begin on October 4.
