Sino-Global Shipping America, Ltd., a non-state-owned provider of shipping agency services operating primarily in China, announced that it has signed a joint-venture agreement with Australian company Rocklands Richfield Limited (RCI). The agreement is to provide Sino-Global new opportunities to serve coal-carrying ships from Australia to China, and to allow Rockland Richfield to leverage Sino-Global's established non-state-owned shipping agency services network in China, to distribute goods domestically.
The proposed joint-venture company will be structured as a British Virgin Islands company, and each of the partner companies will own 50% of it. The BVI entity will serve as a shipping operator for cargo ships carrying imported goods to China. Both RCI and Sino-Global have agreed to contribute US$250,000 as needed to operate the company and support its business development activities.
The joint venture was funded by Sino-Global's internal cash position. The transaction has been approved by the board of directors of Sino-Global, and is expected to close in March 2009.
The main businesses of RCI are coal exploration in Queensland, Australia and coke processing in China. In China, RCI's fully controlled subsidiary Coke & Chemicals processes coking coal and other by-products, with total revenues of approximately AU$100 mln in year 2008. Sino-Global Shipping America, Ltd. was registered in the United States in 2001, and is operating primarily in Mainland China, having local branches in six of China's 76 ports, and contractual arrangements in all those where it does not have branch offices.
