Good scoop by BT.
Forestry a better investment: JES
Scibois has concession rights and is already operational: CFO
BY ANDREA SOH
sandrea@sph.com.sg
CHINESE shipbuilding firm JES International said it was switching from an earlier mining investment to forestry as the latter provided a better deal for the company.
"In almost everything, this new forest investment will present a much more worthwhile investment as compared to the magnesium announcement," its chief financial officer Patrick Kan told The Business Times.
The mainboard-listed group would buy 51 per cent of Scibois Co Limited, which has a 75 per cent stake in a timber extraction firm. The latter owns a licence to harvest 229,400 hectares of forest area in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
JES will pay the current owners - father-and-son pair Yang Shushan and Yang Nan - up to US$65 million in two stages.
In November, JES had announced that it would invest $127 million to buy up to 30 per cent of Mineriver, which holds exploration rights to a magnesium mine in northern Xinjiang. But this will now be put on hold, with a view to termination.
Compared to Mineriver, which only has exploration rights, Scibois has concession rights and is already operational, said Mr Kan.
"Given our position right now, it's much more advantageous for us to invest in a business to make money straight away."
Scibois' profits, which are currently "not big" due to the small scale of its operations, could be contributing to JES' bottom line as soon as this year, he added.
Full story at:
www.businesstimes.com.sg