Shares of Chinese dairy giant Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co. Ltd. edged up a whisker Thursday on news the firm would try to buy a 34.33% stake in Hong Kong-listed rival Ausnutria Dairy Corp. Ltd. as a way into the goat milk powder market.
According to an exchange filing on Wednesday, Yili has signed deals with a group of Ausnutria shareholders — including Citic Agricultural Industry Fund Management Co. Ltd. and Dutch Dairy Investments HK Ltd. — to pay HK$6.25 billion ($803.56 million) for their combined 531 million shares in the company via its wholly owned subsidiary Hong Kong Jingang Trade Holding Co. Ltd.
Shanghai-listed Yili will also buy an additional new 90 million shares in Ausnutria via Jingang, the filing added, saying that the share acquisition deals will make Yili the biggest shareholder in Ausnutria. Those shares will be sold for HK$10.06 each, representing a premium of 33% on Ausnutria’s average closing price during the 30 days before it suspended trading in Hong Kong on Oct. 12, the filing said.
