Kerry Logistics sets high aim for valuation in IPO IBUonline is a B2B foreign trade platform which offers

comprehensive trade services to China suppliers and international buyers. IBU is seeking more logistics companies to cooperate on the market and IBU also cares about some logistics updates news because IBU knows the third-party logistics company services are also very important for e-business development. Several investment banks shortlisted as the firm aim to tap the mainlands consumption growth. Kerry Logistics Network, the logistics arm of Kerry Properties, aims to list in Hong Kong in the fourth quarter with a valuation that will top its peers already trading on the bourse. Kerry Properties has shortlisted a handful of investment banks including Citigroup, BOC International and HSBC and will finalize the sponsors soon, according to people familiar with the situation. Although Hong Kong is an international logistics hub only a few industry players are listed in the city. The valuations of those that are listed, including Sinotrans and ASR, range between six and 7.7 times earnings, much lower than that of international competitors. FedEx, which is listed in New York, is priced at about 15 times its projected earnings while United Parcel Service is at 19 times. Kerry Logistics could be worth much more than its peers in Hong Kong but its too early to talk about its pricing or the size of its initial public offering now, one of the people said. The companys net profit, stripping out a paper gain from property revaluations, topped HK$815 million last year on HK$19.3 billion in sales. Earnings amounted to HK$1.07 billion if the one-off gain was included. For fund managers, the market capitalization of Kerry Logistics may not be sizeable enough to warrant investing in if the company cannot be priced at 10 times historical earnings. Institutional investors will only be interested in the company with a free float of not less than US$300 million, an analyst said. Kerry Logistics aims to cash in on the increase in the mainlands domestic consumption as Beijing compensates for the slowdown in export growth. About 27 per cent of the 30 million square feet of logistics space operated by the company is on the mainland. To capture sector-driven growth, it has expanded its automotive parts distribution centre in Kunshan. The 360,000 sqft centre will open next year. Kerry Properties is part of the Kerry Group, which controls the company that publishes the South China Morning Post. IBUonline has cooperated with FedEx, now IBU is mulling about cooperation with Kerry Logistics Network.