● Yangtze River Business Daily reporter Pan Ruidong
Yangtze River Business Daily News Paper Industry Leading Shanying International (600567. SH) has made substantial progress in the transfer of Nordic Paper's assets.
10月13日晚间，山鹰国际发布公告称，近日公司收到子公司SUTRIV Holding AB的通知，Strategic Value Partners,LLC（下称“SVP”）通过其子公司Coniferous Bidco AB拟向Nordic Paper Holding AB（publ）（下称“北欧纸业”）的股东发出公开现金要约。
Shanying International indirectly holds 32.22 million shares of Nordic Paper through SUTRIV Holding AB, accounting for 48.16% of its total share capital. The total consideration for the transaction is approximately 1.611 billion Sweden kroner, equivalent to RMB1.097 billion, or approximately RMB1.1 billion.
The Yangtze River Business Daily reporter noticed that in the past year or so, the company's performance has recovered year by year, and since the second quarter of 2023, Shanying International has reversed the dilemma of declining profitability and achieved growth for five consecutive quarters. Since October, Shanying has adjusted the total amount of repurchase funds from no less than 350 million yuan and no more than 700 million yuan to no less than 600 million yuan and no more than 1.2 billion yuan.
Reduce the proportion of European business
Shanying International is reducing its share of European business.
According to the latest announcement, SVP intends to make a cash offer of 50 Sweden kronor per share to shareholders of Nordic Paper through its subsidiary Coniferous Bidco AB to acquire its entire stake.
At present, Nordic Paper has a total share capital of 66.9088 million shares, and the total consideration of the offer is approximately 3.345 billion Sweden kronor (approximately 2.277 billion yuan). It is understood that Shanying shares indirectly hold 32,220,300 shares of Nordic Paper through its subsidiary SUTRIV Holding AB, accounting for 48.16% of the total share capital of Nordic Paper.
The total consideration for the sale of the subsidiary by Shanying is approximately 1.611 billion Sweden kroner, equivalent to 1.097 billion yuan. The transaction does not constitute a connected transaction or a material asset restructuring. To ensure the smooth running of the transaction, Sweden Holding has signed an irrevocable undertaking with SVP, promising to accept the offer without revocation.
Back to the announcement, on March 13 this year, Shanying International issued the "Suggestive Announcement on the Proposed Sale of the Equity of the Subsidiary Nordic Paper", which intends to sell all or part of the equity of Nordic Paper to reduce the proportion of the company's business in Europe.
For this transaction, Shanying International said that the company intends to further optimize the allocation of resources and focus on the development of the core industrial chain by reducing the proportion of its business in Europe. The sale of shares does not mean that the company's pace of expanding overseas markets has stopped.
In addition, Shanying International also recouped funds through the sale of shares of industrial M&A funds to optimize resource allocation. On September 10, 2024, Shanying Private Equity and the transferee Haiyan Hangzhou Bay Venture Capital Co., Ltd. signed the "Jiaxing Yinghuang Equity Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) Partnership Share Transfer Agreement", stipulating that Shanying Private Equity will transfer its paid-in share of the 395 million yuan industrial M&A fund held by Shanying Private Equity to the transferee for 539 million yuan.
The transfer price shall be paid in two instalments, with the transferee payable by October 31, 2024 the first tranche of $275 million and the second tranche of $264 million by November 15, 2024.
The maximum amount of repurchase will be adjusted to 1.2 billion yuan
According to public information, Shanying International, formerly known as Ma'anshan Paper Mill, was established in 1957 and listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2001, with its main business being the production and sales of containerboard, corrugated base paper, special paper, cardboard and paper product packaging, as well as domestic and foreign recycled fiber trading business.
The paper industry is a typical cyclical industry, and the supply and demand pattern is the core driving force of the industry's prosperity. In 2022, the paper industry will fall into a cyclical trough, and the net profit attributable to Shanying International will turn from profit to loss.
From the second half of 2023, paper prices will basically stabilize, terminal demand will gradually recover, and Shanying International will achieve a turnaround in 2023. According to the data, in 2023, Shanying International will achieve revenue of 29.333 billion yuan, a year-on-year change of -13.76%; The net profit attributable to the parent company was 156 million yuan, turning from a huge loss of 2.256 billion yuan to a profit.
In fact, starting from the second quarter of 2023, Shanying International has reversed the dilemma of declining profits. From the second quarter of 2023 to the fourth quarter of 2023, the company's net profit attributable to the parent company was 70.18 million yuan, 155 million yuan, and 273 million yuan respectively, a year-on-year increase of 197.62%, 311.4%, and 111.8%, and it also achieved significant growth for three consecutive quarters.
In the first half of 2024, Shanying International's performance continued to recover, achieving operating income of 14.255 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.69%; The net profit attributable to the parent company was 114 million yuan, a year-on-year turnaround. From the perspective of a single quarter, in the first and second quarters of 2024, the company's net profit attributable to the parent company will be 39.06 million yuan and 74.48 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 111.45% and 6.13%.
In other words, since the second quarter of 2023, Shanying International's net profit attributable to the parent company has increased for five consecutive quarters. However, it should be noted that in the second quarter of 2024, the company's net profit growth slowed down.
The performance recovered, but the company's stock price continued to be depressed. However, since the release of the blockbuster policy of "one line, one bureau and one meeting" on September 24, the share price of Shanying shares has risen from 1.41 yuan / share to 2.03 yuan / share on October 8; However, in the past week, the company's share price has fallen, and as of the close of trading on October 14, the company's share price was 1.63 yuan per share.
The Yangtze River Business Daily reporter noted that in the context of sluggish stock prices, Shanying International plans to repurchase shares to boost market confidence. On June 23 this year, the company threw out a share repurchase plan of 350 million yuan to 700 million yuan, and as of October 9, 2024, the company has repurchased nearly 200 million shares through centralized bidding transactions and paid 300 million yuan.
It is worth mentioning that on October 7, Shanying International raised the repurchase amount and adjusted the upper limit of the share repurchase price from 1.69 yuan/share to 2.34 yuan/share; The total amount of repurchase funds will be adjusted to not less than 600 million yuan and not more than 1.2 billion yuan (both inclusive).