Haier Electronics May Stand Out With an Enhanced Line of Assets
BEIJING -- After years of flying below the radar, the Hong Kong-listed unit of Haier Group, China's biggest maker of home appliances, could be ready to step out into the spotlight.
For years, there has been a disconnect between Haier's almost ubiquitous profile with consumers in China and elsewhere and its near invisibility with international investors. The parent is one of China's best-known brands, selling everything from refrigerators to personal computers. It also has been one of China's most aggressive companies in expanding internationally, establishing manufacturing operations several years ago in the U.S., where it sells televisions, air conditioners and other goods.
But Hong Kong-listed Haier Electronics Group has been a penny stock, owning only a tiny slice of the parent's operations -- those that sell top-loading washing machines. A separate unit, Qingdao Haier, lists Class A shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange that are available primarily to local investors and is slightly larger, but it still represents a fraction of the parent's total business.
But the situation is starting to change. Yesterday, Haier Electronics announced details of a planned asset injection by its parent in which the Hong Kong-listed unit will acquire Haier Group's business selling front-loading washing machines and water heaters.
At a cost of about US$115 million, the deal isn't huge. But the company said it is part of its parent's plan to make Haier Electronics "into the listed flagship of its white-goods business" and said more injections could follow.
"This is definitely good news for Haier Electronics, which has never boasted competitive core assets," says Zhou Xingzheng, an analyst with Southwest Securities in Beijing.
Investors welcomed the announcement. Trading in shares of Haier Electronics was suspended Aug. 21 pending details on the transaction. They resumed trading yesterday, rising 5.8% to close at 25.5 Hong Kong cents (3.3 U.S. cents) apiece.
Haier's move is part of a broader trend in China. Many Chinese listed companies contain only a portion of their parent companies' assets, but the parent companies have increasingly been shifting assets into their listed units, in part to help boost their share prices. Other asset injections have occurred in companies in industries as broad as defense, metals and automobiles.
In Haier's case, the gap between the parent company and its listed units has been especially large. Haier Group's total revenue last year was US$12.8 billion, according to its Web site. Haier Electronics, meanwhile, reported 2005 revenue of 4.94 billion Hong Kong dollars, or US$635 million. Shanghai-listed Qingdao Haier, which has traditionally been given more choice assets, including refrigerators and air conditioners, reported revenue of about US$2.1 billion last year.
Haier Group owns about 50.4% of Haier Electronics, a portion that will rise to 53.1% after the transaction because the unit is paying for the new assets in part with shares. Deutsche Bank, which advised the company on the deal, owns 22.7% of Haier Electronics, a percentage that will fall to 21.4%. The rest of the company's stock is publicly traded.
Haier Electronics' assets have sometimes looked to investors like cast-offs. The parent company has previously taken a cautious attitude toward putting assets into its Hong Kong-listed arm, analysts say. The listed unit was formed when Haier Group took a stake in a company called CCL Multimedia Holdings that had started out as a business focused on baby-care products. Later, Haier Electronics was saddled with a new mobile-handset business that the parent was trying to get started but that proved unprofitable. That unit was sold back to the parent company this year.
Amid that uncertainty, Haier Electronics' stock has suffered. Its shares are up about 18% this year but remain far below values of more than 50 Hong Kong cents in late 2001.
"Senior officials of Haier Group are very dissatisfied with the current stock prices of both Haier Electronics and Qingdao Haier," says Zhang Xiaoga, an analyst with Orient Securities in Shanghai. "So they want to boost the stock prices through the asset injection."
Randy Zhou, a Shanghai-based analyst with investment bank BOCI, says the asset injection could boost Haier Electronics' revenue by 70%. Still, analysts say it is difficult to say exactly what Haier Electronics should be worth after the transaction is complete, especially because yesterday's announcement indicated that more assets could be injected into the company -- including, possibly, the refrigerator and air-conditioner assets of its Shanghai-listed cousin, Qingdao Haier.
There are reasons to be cautious. The appliance business is extremely competitive in China, which puts pressure on prices, and producers are being squeezed by rising materials prices. In 2005, Haier Electronics reported a drop of 25% in the operating profit of its washing-machine business, even though sales went up by about 20%.
But Mr. Zhou, of Southwest Securities, says the latest transaction is "a good deal for Haier Electronics." He says the company is paying just 12 times earnings for the front-loading-washing-machine and water-heater businesses it is buying from its parent, while the stock of other Hong Kong-listed companies that sell a similar product mix trades at about 15 times earnings. After the asset injection, Haier Electronics will have the most attractive assets in its history, he says.
海尔电器能否一鸣惊人？
在蛰伏了多年后，海尔电器集团有限公司(Haier Electronics Group Co. Ltd., 简称：海尔电器)可能会成为众人关注的焦点。
海尔电器是中国最大的家用电器制造商海尔集团(Haier Group)在香港的上市子公司。多年来，海尔在中国等地几乎无处不在的形象与国际投资者对它的视而不见形成了反差。海尔是中国最知名的品牌之一，海尔集团销售从电冰箱到个人电脑等各种产品。它还是中国最积极在国外扩张的公司之一，几年前在美国设立了生产厂，并销售电视机、空调等商品。
但在香港上市的海尔电器一直是一只低价股，公司只拥有销售波轮式洗衣机的业务。另一家子公司青岛海尔股份有限公司(Qingdao Haier Co. Ltd., 简称：G海尔)在上海证交所上市，公司规模稍大一些，不过业务范围仍只是母公司全部业务的一小部分。
但这种情况正在开始发生改变。海尔电器周一宣布了母公司向其注入资产的计划细节：海尔电器将收购海尔集团生产和销售滚桶式洗衣机及热水器的业务。
这项交易的规模并不很大，仅有约1.15亿美元。但公司表示，这是其母公司将海尔电器塑造为白色家电上市旗舰计划的一部分，今后可能还将注入更多资产。
西南证券(Southwest Securities)驻北京分析师周兴政说，这对海尔电器来说绝对是个好消息，它将从此获得具有竞争力的核心资产。
投资者对这个消息表示欢迎。海尔电器股票自8月21日起停牌，等待公布交易的详细情况。周一该股恢复交易，上涨5.8%，收于0.255港元（3.3美分）。
海尔集团的举措也反映了中国企业界出现的一大趋势。许多中国的上市公司只拥有母公司资产的一部分，但越来越多的母公司都在将资产注入到上市子公司中，原因之一是提振这些上市公司的股价。在国防、金属和汽车行业的公司中，已经出现过多次类似的资产注入案例。
而对海尔来说，母公司同上市子公司之间的差距尤其巨大。海尔集团网站上的数据显示，该集团2005年的收入为128亿美元。而海尔电器2005年的收入为49.4亿港元，约合6.35亿美元。G海尔去年的收入为21亿美元。
海尔集团拥有海尔电器约50.4%的股权，由于海尔电器将用部分股票交换新资产，交易完成后，海尔集团的持股比例将升至53.1%。此次交易的顾问德意志银行(Deutsche Bank)持有海尔电器22.7%的股份，这个比例将在交易后下降至21.4%。公司的其余股份公开上市交易。
海尔电器的资产有时在投资者眼中就像是被人遗弃的东西。分析师称，母公司以前曾对将资产注入到这家香港上市子公司持谨慎态度。这家上市子公司是在海尔集团收购一家叫做CCL Multimedia Holdings的婴儿护理用品公司的股份时成立的。后来，海尔电器承担了母公司试图开展的新手机业务，但未能实现盈利。今年，手机业务被卖回给了母公司。
由于面临着不确定因素，海尔电器的股价一直表现低迷。今年以来，该股上涨了约18%，但仍远远低于2001年末时0.50港元的水平。
东方证券(Orient Securities)驻上海分析师张小嘎说，海尔集团的高层对海尔电器和G海尔目前的股价非常不满，因此他们希望通过注入资产提振股价。
中银国际控股有限公司(BOCI, 简称：中银国际)驻上海分析师周诚(Randy Zhou)表示，此次资产注入可能将海尔电器的收入提高70%。不过，分析师表示，难以准确预言交易完成后海尔电器的具体合理价值，特别是周一的公告表示有可能注入更多资产，其中或许会包括在上海上市的G海尔的电冰箱和空调资产。
投资者有理由对该股保持谨慎。中国家电业的竞争格外激烈，这给价格带来了压力，同时生产商还要面临原材料涨价的困扰。2005年，海尔电器洗衣机业务的运营利润下降了25%，尽管销售收入增长了约20%。
但西南证券的周兴政称，这项交易对海尔电器来说是件好事。他说，该公司从母公司收购滚筒式洗衣机和热水器业务的价格只有这两项业务收益的12倍，而其它销售类似产品的香港上市公司的市盈率都在15倍左右。他认为，在资产注入后，海尔电器将拥有其历史上最具吸引力的资产。
