Battered by hefty losses because of falling shipping rates, China Ocean Shipping (Group) is selling its 20 per cent stake in ICBC Credit Suisse Asset Management for 260 million yuan (HK$295.18 million).
The parent of China Cosco Holdings was one of the three founding members of the asset management firm, which was launched in June 2005 with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China holding 55 per cent and Credit Suisse 25 per cent.
Accredited as a qualified domestic institutional investor on the mainland, the firm made 193 million yuan net profit on 629 million yuan of sales last year. Net profit in the first seven months of this year was 123 million yuan.
The move is part of a trend among shipping and airline companies to offload some of their assets for cash so they can weather the current economic climate.
'It could help them increase cash levels just in case the global economy does not recover as fast as expected,' said Jim Wong, a transport analyst for Nomura Securities.
China Southern Airlines, the largest mainland airline by passenger numbers, sold its stake in an engine maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Guangzhou for 1.6 billion yuan to its parent firm this week.
Cathay Pacific Airways also agreed to offload a 12.5 per cent stake in Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering to Swire Pacific for about HK$1.3 billion on September 15.
