International Mining Machinery Holdings, a maker of coal-mining machinery, hopes to increase its product range from net proceeds of a planned HK$3.32 billion listing in Hong Kong next month. International Mining is selling 520 million shares and the indicative price range for the offer is set at between HK$4.88 and HK$6.38 a share, according to people familiar with the offering. The business only took off after a number of acquisitions over the past few years, said chief executive Allen Chan (right), a Hongkonger who moved to China in the 1970s. The Heilongjiang-based company has about a 54 per cent share of the market for two pieces of machinery - the roadheader, which crushes the ground; and the shearer, which removes the coal from rock faces - since it bought state-owned firms Jixi Coal Mining Machinery and Jiamusi Coal Mining Machinery in 2006. In 2008, International Mining bought Huainan Longwall Coal Mining Machinery, a producer of armoured face conveyors (AFCs), which run along a coal face with a shearer mounted on it. Roadheader sales contributed 44.7 per cent of total revenue at the end of 2008, with shearers contributing 27.2 per cent and AFCs 11 per cent. A large increase in machinery output is planned over the next two years. The company plans other purchases to add to its product line-up, and executive director Ye Youming said it would look at companies that make products such as motors designed to withstand methane and coal dust explosions and hydraulic roof supports, which help prevent cave-ins. International Mining's key clients are mostly state-owned enterprises such as China Shenhua Energy and China Coal Energy. 'There are risks in working with non-state enterprises,' Chan said. 'State-owned firms might delay payments from time to time but they won't do a runner on us.'
