China Xiangtai Food Co., an emerging company primarily engaged in pork processing in China, commenced trading its ordinary shares on the Nasdaq capital market around midday on Wednesday under the ticker symbol "PLIN".
Shares of the company closed at 5 US dollars, bouncing back to its starting price after moving down during the afternoon sessions.
The Chongqing-based company announced the closing of its initial public offering (IPO) of 1,172,360 ordinary shares at a price of 5 dollars per share on May 10, to gather about 5.1 million dollars, said a company statement late Wednesday night.
"Our company is currently in a rapidly growing phase, during which we need to further standardize our operations and collect more capital to strengthen our overall competitiveness," Wu Xiaohui, president of China Xiangtai Food, told Xinhua on Wednesday.
"Chinese local governments at various levels also encourage private firms to develop by entering financial markets of different types," Wu added.
The offering of the company's ordinary shares became effective on Feb. 15 and was made only by means of a prospectus filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Boustead Securities, LLC acted as the sole underwriter for the offering. Ortoli Rosenstadt LLP acted as counsel to the company, and Sichenzia Ross Ference LLP acted as counsel to the underwriter.
The company's operations span key sections of the pork processing value chain, including slaughtering, packing, distribution, and wholesale of fresh pork. It also offers fresh and processed meat products, including beef, lamb, chicken and ducks.
"In recent years, Chinese consumers' demand for processed meat has been increasing on a steady basis. The market will become more specialized as (the country's) urbanization has been improving and the trend of consumption upgrading has been further shown in the (general) food market," Wu noted.
"Consumers have raised higher demands for food safety and quality, and become less sensitive to prices. Such changes have brought more opportunities to emerging growth companies (like us)," he added.
