ASIMCO Technologies, a top independent supplier of auto parts in China, may seek to list shares in Hong Kong or Japan to fund its growth in a car market it expects will be the largest in the world in 15 years.
ASIMCO, which recently restructured after a string of failed investments in the 1990s, has so far been able to rely on cash flow to expand but may have to look for ways to raise more money eventually, Chief Executive Jack Perkowski told reporters.
"Frankly we are getting more opportunities than we can deal with," Perkowski said.
"Probably Hong Kong would be the first place but we are also looking at Japan," Perkowski said of a possible listing. He did not disclose the possible timing or size of an initial public offering.
Investors in Beijing-based ASIMCO include insurer American International Group and Key Capital Partners, an affiliate of US banking firm KeyCorp.
ASIMCO's sales were expected to top US$400 million this year and would rise more than 20 per cent annually for the next few years, Perkowski said.
ASIMCO has 13 plants in China, with six more being built and two others in the United States. Some 70 per cent of sales come from China.
This year and next, ASIMCO planned to spend US$200 million on the new facilities and to buy out Chinese partners from existing joint ventures, Perkowski said.
The company's margins were about 20 per cent after rises in the cost of raw materials shaved off about 3 percentage points last year, Perkowski said.
Founded by Perkowski in 1994, ASIMCO sunk more than US$400 million in dozens of auto parts and beer companies, but the firm was plagued by missteps described in "Mr. China", a recent book by Tim Clissold, one of Perkowski's former partners at ASIMCO.
Perkowski gladly acknowledged ASIMCO's woes, saying: "We had problems in all of our companies, all but two of them."
As part of its overhaul, ASIMCO beefed up management, hiring executives from car part supplier Visteon and diesel engine maker Cummins.
"We spent the first 10 years figuring out how to localize our operations. Over the next 10 years we want to turn this into a global company that is born and based in China," Perkowski said.
Perkowski said he was unfazed by a downturn in China's auto market.
China's car industry would grow 10 to 15 per cent this year and would be the largest market in the world in 10 to 15 years, he said. "In most parts of the world that would be a fantastic year but in China it's like 'Oh my God, only 10 to 15 per cent.'"
(HK Edition 04/15/2005 page3)
