I have looked into Sino Agro Food which I think ticks many boxes of being a successful spin-off trade. Clear up-coming catalyst (spin-off) and very cheap (2x PE)
Sino Agro Food (“SIAF”) is a Chinese food producer, listed in the US (OTC) with a market cap of $180m trading at 2x 15PE. SIAF will spin-out its Aquaculture business to be listed on Oslo Stock Exchange in 1H2016, keep on reading because it will get better!
SIAF has recently decided to break up the group seeking separate listing or sale of asset. The first asset being considered is the aquaculture operations, a highly attractive asset which the company aims to spin-off and list in Oslo where I think the company can get best valuation based on peer valuation.
The company is the only producer in the world growing organic prawns on an industrial scale. The company currently has no competition within the organic and sustainable part of the business and is addressing the biggest fish protein consumer market in the world. SIAF’s aquaculture spin-off has the potential to be the best organic growth story among all seafood producing companies in the world, as well as more profitable, which should come with a premium valuation to sector peers.
The Aquaculture spin-off is expected to be structured to fit Nordic investors I guess. Specifically this means a company with headquarters in Oslo, a chairman and board mainly consisting of members with a known track-record in the Nordics, some with aquaculture experience. This should enable the company to be perceived as a Norwegian company with operations in China reducing the risk premia.
I think that the valuation today is low due to several reasons as the company is a conglomerate consisting of 6 different assets, complex company structure, US OTC listed, chinese corporate governance and has been extensive printing of shares for funding. I think that the spin-off will create value for shareholders due to several reasons. To mention a few; it will be a pure play aquaculture company, it will be listed on an exchange that has more than 15 peers, and they all trade at around 10x (vs the company today at 2x).
Quickly on valuation, in Q3 2015 the Aquaculture part of the business made almost $100m in revenue and $28m in gross profit (12m trailing). This is expected to grow rapidly in 2016. It is easy to see how Aquaculture could be worth more than double the current market cap for whole of SIAF
Let me know if you want more info about the story and I will keep you updated going forward.
AI
