Wilmar International : Secures Strategic Investors for IPO of China Unit

By Ben Otto

Agribusiness giant Wilmar International Ltd. has secured strategic investors including state-owned funds and sovereign-wealth funds for an initial public offering of its China unit that could raise up to $2 billion.

Wilmar said Wednesday in a stock-exchange filing that the unit, Yihai Kerry Arawana Holdings Co., also received commitments from insurance companies to subscribe to shares. Altogether, the strategic investors will subscribe for about 30% of the IPO shares, Wilmar said.

Wilmar said it intends to list the unit in mid-October on the ChiNext board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, subject to market conditions.

Wilmar, which previously said it aims to raise as much as 13.78 billion yuan ($2.03 billion) in the offering, also said Wednesday that the unit received final registration approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission for the listing.

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