CHEMICAL giant Tianjin Bohai Chemical Industry should be the last of the first batch of nine Chinese state-owned enterprises to list in Hong Kong with a share offer expected in April.
The company is expected to raise $400 million to $500 million in the territory, although company director Xu Zongjian declined to comment on either the date of the public offer or the size of funds the company hopes to raise.
He said part of the proceeds would fund the construction of two more power plants to meet manufacturing requirements.
Currently, Tianjin Bohai's power capacity is about 60,000 to 70,000 kilowatts, satisfying only one-fifth of its demand at the moment. ''The group plans to raise its power capacity to 100,000 kilowatts by the end of this year, and 120,000 to 130,000 kilowatts by 1996,'' said Mr Xu.
In 1993, Tianjin Bohai recorded 2.3 billion yuan ($2.02 billion) in turnover, representing 10 per cent growth over the previous year. Although Mr Xu would not give exact figures for profit, he said profit growth since 1991 had significantly exceeded turnover growth.
He said profit growth was partly attributable to the group's decision to minimise production costs by improving existing production technology and developing new products.