appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

Amanda Lee

Nick Westra

China Forestry Holdings, a private forest operator, is reviving its listing plan on the Hong Kong stock exchange in a bid to raise as much as HK$1.58 billion to expand plantations.
The company was established in 2003 when Beijing set up a directive for the private sector to participate in forestry development.
It is now among the three largest privately held forest operators in the country by coverage area of owned forest rights, according to its listing prospectus.
China Forestry will offer a total of 750 million shares and the price range will be between HK$1.60 and HK$2.10 per share.
The company has private equity firms Carlyle Group and Partners Group as cornerstone investors.
More than 95 per cent of the net proceeds will be used to buy new forests, including forests in Ning Lang Xian in Yunnan province.
China Forestry currently owns and operates about 171,780 hectares of forests, mostly in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces.
It has a stock volume of about 35.5 million cubic metres as of June 30 his year, according to the prospectus.
Forests in Sichuan and Yunnan account for 12,447 hectares and 159,333 hectares, respectively.
More than 90 per cent of its forests are immediately harvestable, based on the company's harvesting requirement, which is when the diameter of a tree is larger than 20 centimetres.
The company's customers are mostly mainland wood-processing factories, which use timber and logs to make furniture, interior decorations, wood products and paper.
Net profits for last year increased to 5.88 billion yuan (HK$6.67 billion) from 784 million yuan in 2007. China Forestry said it would continue to buy quality forests and increase its annual harvesting volume by 15 to 20 per cent over the next three to five years.
Even though the company has pulled in well-known cornerstone investors, analysts said the market's appetite for new shares could be curbed by the aggressive pricing of upcoming listings.
'In the last bull [market] phase, a lot of my clients were happy to subscribe to new [initial public offerings] and make money, but this time, they are very cautious about it,' said Andrew To, a sales director at Taifook Securities. 
'The good [IPOs] are overpriced and the bad ones you don't have the guts to subscribe for.'
Some firms listed this year have recently come under scrutiny. China Metal Recycling (Holdings) said yesterday that its chief financial officer had resigned amid a dispute over access to financial records. And Amber Energy and Silver Base Group Holdings have each announced profit warnings within the past four weeks.
'A lot of these new listings are question marks,' To said.
Pricing of China Forestry shares is expected to be on November 25 and trading is scheduled to start on December 3.
Rich harvest
The IPO in numbers
Fund target: HK$ 1.58b
Number of shares: 750m
Share pricing: Nov 25
Pricing: HK$1.60-HK2.10
Listing date: Dec 3



IPO plan revived by China Forestry