The foreign owners of a leading Chinese food processing company are to consider a sale， emphasising intense interest by private equity funds to exit investments due to strong Asian market performance.

　　一家領(lǐng)先中國食品加工公司的外國所有者將考慮出售所持股份，突顯私人股本基金在亞洲市場表現(xiàn)強(qiáng)勁之際退出投資的強(qiáng)烈意愿。

　　People close to the situation said China Minzhong， the food company， was delivering annual earnings before tax of about $60m and could be worth more than $700m.

　　據(jù)知情人士表示，閩中有機(jī)食品有限公司（下稱閩中）稅前年利潤約為6000萬美元，價(jià)值可能超過7億美元。

　　China Minzhong is majority-owned by the private equity arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation and Olympus Capital， a US fund. It has appointed JP Morgan to advise on a possible sale， say people familiar with the situation. All declined to comment.

　　閩中的多數(shù)股權(quán)由新加坡政府投資公司的私人股本部門及美國基金Olympus Capital持有。據(jù)知情人士表示，該公司已經(jīng)聘請(qǐng)摩根大通（JP Morgan）擔(dān)任這筆可能的交易的顧問。相關(guān)各方均拒絕置評(píng)。

　　Minzhong is one of China's big processors of dried， frozen and tinned vegetables， with 70 per cent of sales overseas.

　　閩中是中國烘干、冷凍與罐裝果蔬大型加工商之一，70%的產(chǎn)品銷往海外。

　　Based in Fujian province， it was acquired by the consortium – which includes another Singaporean private equity fund – in a management buy-out in April 2006.

　　該公司總部設(shè)在福建省，于2006年4月被上述銀團(tuán)（包括另一家新加坡私人股本基金）通過管理層收購（MBO）收入囊中。

　　Minzhong has grown strongly， helped by its reputation as an early mover in China to adopt standards suitable for export markets.

　　閩中增長強(qiáng)勁，得益于該公司在中國率先采用適合出口市場的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的名聲。

　　People familiar with the matter said the consortium had discussed selling control to a private equity buyer by a structured deal to list China Minzhong on Singapore's stock exchange. That would allow existing shareholders to keep a minority stake and to benefit from growth.

　　知情人士表示，該銀團(tuán)曾討論通過讓閩中在新加坡證券交易所上市的結(jié)構(gòu)化交易，將控制權(quán)出售給一個(gè)私人股本買家。這將使得現(xiàn)有股東保留少數(shù)股權(quán)，并從增長中受益。

　　Potential private equity buyers scoffed at the proposed structure. The consortium has fresh plans to pursue a sale.

　　潛在私人股本買家對(duì)這種擬議的結(jié)構(gòu)不以為然。該銀團(tuán)又提出了新的出售計(jì)劃。

　　Dealmakers who specialise in Asia's private equity scene said funds regionwide are combing portfolios to monetise assets.

　　專攻亞洲私人股本領(lǐng)域的交易撮合者表示，亞洲各地的基金正在梳理資產(chǎn)組合，將資產(chǎn)套現(xiàn)。

　　They said portfolio companies acquired in so-called “vintage” years of 2005 and 2006 could typically deliver up to three-times gains at current market levels. “Private equity funds need to recycle some of their investments to return cash to shareholders – and an asset like China Minzhong is ripe to divest because it was bought before prices took off in 2007 and 2008，” said one dealmaker.

　　他們表示，在所謂的2005和2006“釀制”年收購的資產(chǎn)組合公司，按照目前的市場水平，一般可獲得高達(dá)3倍的增值。一名交易撮合者表示：“私人股本基金需要回收它們的一些投資，向股東返還現(xiàn)金——像閩中這樣的資產(chǎn)，剝離時(shí)機(jī)已經(jīng)成熟，因?yàn)樗窃?007年和2008年價(jià)格飛速上升前購買的。”

　　Carlyle Group， the US fund， last week sold Kbro， its Taiwanese cable-television operator， to Taiwan Mobile in a cash and shares deal worth $1bn. TPG， another global fund， is preparing a $2bn Australian listing of its Myer department store chain.

　　美國基金凱雷集團(tuán)（Carlyle Group）上周通過價(jià)值10億美元的現(xiàn)金加股票交易，將旗下的臺(tái)灣有線電視運(yùn)營商凱擘股份（Kbro）出售給了臺(tái)灣大哥大（Taiwan Mobile）。另一家全球性基金德州太平洋集團(tuán)（TPG），正在準(zhǔn)備旗下連鎖百貨商店Myer價(jià)值20億美元的澳大利亞上市。

　　Wumart Stores – a Chinese supermarket operator in which TPG has a small stake – is in talks to acquire Times， a Hong Kong-listed rival， for about $600m， people close to the matter said.

　　據(jù)知情人士表示，德州太平洋集團(tuán)持有少數(shù)股權(quán)的中國超市運(yùn)營商物美（Wumart Stores），正就對(duì)香港上市競爭對(duì)手——時(shí)代零售集團(tuán)有限公司（Times）價(jià)值約6億美元的收購進(jìn)行談判。