On April 25, the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation was held in Beijing. Under the theme of “Belt and Road Cooperation: Shaping a Brighter Shared Future”, thousands of delegates from more than 150 countries exchanged their views and discussed cooperation plans to achieve high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The Belt and Road CEO Conference was held during the forum and has attracted 90 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, 78 of China’s top 500 companies and many business people to participate. On such conference, cooperation projects worth over $64 billion were signed. Joyvio Agriculture Development Co., Ltd. (“Joyvio”), advised by Grandall in the capacity of its PRC counsel, attended the ceremony together with representative of the controlling shareholder of Australis Seafoods S.A. (a Chilean listed company engaged in salmon industry) and both sides signed the agreement. This indicates the official launch of the largest agricultural cooperation project between China and Chile at the forum.
Joyvio (stock code: 300268) is an A-share listed company aiming at the development of the entire industry chain of medium-to-high-end animal protein. It is Legend Holdings’ investment vehicle for agribusiness and takes “global resources + China’s consumption” as its strategic target. Australis Seafoods S.A. is a Chilean public company listed on Santiago Stock Exchange and produced approximately 64,000 metric tons of salmon in 2017. It is one of the Chilean salmon companies having the best key business indicators in the industry.
With the joint investment from Joyvio’s wholly-owned subsidiary and Cangyuan Investment Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Silk Road Fund, this transaction is intended to acquire at least 95.26% and up to 100% of the issued and outstanding shares in Australis Seafood S.A. by making a general offer to all of its shareholders. The purchase price is around US$880 million. This transaction constitutes a major asset reorganization of Joyvio.
The friendship between China and Chile has a long history. Though Chile marks the farthest point from China, it is the first South American country to establish diplomatic relations with the PRC, the first Latin American country to recognize the PRC’s free market economic status, and the first country sign to the free trade agreement (FTA) with China. China now becomes Chile’s largest trading partner, while Chile is China’s second largest trading partner in South America after Brazil. China-Chile cooperation is an important part of the Belt and Road cooperation. The implementation of this transaction is in line with the BRI’s principles of “openness and cooperation, harmony and inclusiveness, and mutual benefit”, and is of great significance to the implementation and promotion of the BRI.
Grandall, acting as the PRC legal counsel to Joyvio in this transaction, participlated in the demonstration of the transaction plan and financing plan, represented Joyvio to communicate and negotiate with the co-investor, overseas professional agencies and other parties involved in the transaction, examined and finalized the share purchase agreement, investment agreement and other transaction documents, assisted the company in completing overseas filing procedures of this transaction, and provided high-quality and efficient legal services for the successful signing of this transaction. Grandall’s professional team for the project consists of Liu Wei, executive partner of Grandall, Cheng Jingjiao, partner of Grandall Shanghai, and He Linfei, Hao Mingcheng and Wu Shuyi, lawyers of Grandall, and legal assistants - Jie Yi and Pang Jiayi.