(ATF) Sinopharm Holdings (01099-HK) has announced that in order to meet the company’s operating needs and reduce costs the board of directors resolved, on 29 March 2020, to issue corporate bonds in China.
According to Chinese laws and the Articles of Association, the proposed issuance of corporate bonds can only be implemented after shareholders have reviewed and passed special resolutions and obtained approval from relevant Chinese regulators.
The proposed issuance of corporate bonds may or may not proceed, so shareholders and investors have been advised to exercise caution when trading company shares. A company circular containing details of the proposed bond issue will be sent to shareholders in due course.
After deducting expenses for the issuance, funds raised from the corporate bonds are intended to be used for repaying the company’s debt, replenishing working capital and other compliance costs.
The specific purpose of the fundraising will be put to a shareholders’ meeting to authorise the board of directors or a person authorised by the board to determine according to the company’s needs.
The bond application is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
10 core businesses
Sinopharm – otherwise known as the China National Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd – is a giant state-owned healthcare corporation based in Beijing. It has 128,000 employees and comes under the State Council’s Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).
Sinopharm owns over 1,100 subsidiaries and six listed companies, one of which is Sinopharm Group Co Ltd or Sinopharm Holding.
The others are China National Medicines Corporation Ltd, China National Accord Medicines Corporation Ltd, Beijing Tiantan Biological Products Co Ltd, Shanghai Shyndec Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, and China Traditional Chinese Medicine Holdings Co Ltd.
The group covers many facets of the health sector – R&D, manufacturing, logistics and distribution, retail chains, healthcare, engineering services, exhibitions and conferences, international business and financial services.
It lists 10 core businesses on its website. They are, in order:
# a medical distribution and logistics business, a medicinal retail business with GuoDa Pharmacy;
# a bio-pharm unit with the six institutes of biological products;
# a chemical pharmaceutical production unit with China National Pharmaceutical Industry Co Ltd (CNPIC);
# a Chinese traditional and herbal medicine business with China National Group Corporation of Traditional & Herbal Medicine;
# a medical devices production and sale unit with CSIMC and CMIC;
# a medical import and export business with China National Pharmaceutical Foreign Trade Corporation;
# the research, development and production of chemical and diagnosis reagent unit with Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co Ltd and the six major institutes of biological products;
# a pharmaceutical R&D and design unit with the scientific institutes under Sinopharm and Sinopharm United Engineering Corp;
# an exhibit-economy unit with Reed Sinopharm Exhibition Co Ltd.
Sinopharm was ranked at 169 on the Fortune Global 500 list released on July 22, 2019, after jumping from 194 in 2018.
