Cosco Pacific Ltd, the port arm of China's largest shipping company, will spend 1.06 billion yuan (US$128 million) on a 16 per cent stake in China International Marine Containers (Group) Co (CIMC), the world's top maker of shipping containers.

The acquisition is seen as a fresh move by Cosco Pacific to consolidate its presence in China's container business.

Cosco Pacific, through a wholly-owned unit Cosco Container Industry Ltd, said it will pay cash to parent China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co for 163.7 million non-tradable shares in CIMC, listed on China's Shenzhen stock exchange.

The purchase price of 6.25 yuan (75.6 US cents) a share is 23 per cent higher than CIMC's net asset value per share.

The purchase is subject to approval by independent shareholders and regulators.

Cosco Pacific, which formerly focused on container leasing, container terminals and logistics businesses, wants to strengthen container making through the acquisition.

Hong Kong-listed Cosco Pacific is one of the largest terminals and container-shipping operators in China.

"The company (Cosco Pacific) has invested in three container manufacturing plants in China," Cosco Pacific said.

"The management considers the proposed investment in CIMC as a good opportunity to strengthen the company's foothold in the growing container manufacturing and sales industry," it claimed.

The company takes the opportunity and will make profit in the near future, said Zhang Ji, a professor of port economy at Jiangsu-based Yangzhou University.

The container manufacturing and sales business is profitable, as China's foreign trade booms and the port economy is on the rise, Zhang said.

From January to June, China's trade volume topped US$523 billion, an increase of 39 per cent. The nation's port handling volume reached 27.66 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit), soaring by 27.3 per cent.

China's port container handling capacity exceeded 48 million TEU last year, surpassing the US to become the world's No 1 handler.

Analysts said CIMC's handsome performance also ensured the deal was worthwhile for Cosco Pacific.

The world's largest container maker said last week its net profit surged by 179 per cent year-on-year during the first half of the year to 934 million yuan (US$113 million).

The company, dominating more than half of the world's marine container market shares, also reported staple business revenues of 11.1 billion yuan (US$1.34 billion), jumping by 75 per cent year-on-year, as container making achieved increases in both prices and sales.

It sold 724,516 TEU containers from January to June, up approximately 30 per cent on a yearly basis.

Source: China Daily