China’s largest oil refiner China Petroleum & Chemical Corp Sinopec) said on Wednesday a subsidiary would sell a 25 per cent stake in a caprolactam and nylon producing unit to its parent Sinopec Group Co for 266.26 million yuan (US$32.16 million).Shijiazhuang Refining & Chemical Co Ltd, which is 79.73 per cent owned by the company, will sell the stake in Shijiazhuang Chemical Fibre to the parent, Sinopec said in a statement.At present, Chemical Fibre is 43.35 per cent owned by Shijiazhuang Refining and 39.66 per cent owned by Sinopec. The remaining 16.99 per cent is held by an independent party.After the disposal, Shijiazhuang Refining will retain a 18.35 per cent interest in Chemical Fibre.Sinopec said in the statement that the price of caprolactam has been “seriously twisted” in the mainland Chinese market due to adverse changes in the demand and supply of the product.Shijiazhuang Refining has decided to reduce its stake to increase the overall profitability of its remaining assets, the statement said.Chemical Fibre reported losses of 22.94 million yuan and 269.48 million yuan and in 1999 and 2000, respectively.Shares of Sinopec closed at HK$1.15 on Tuesday and are down 20.3 per cent in the past three months.(US$1=HK$7.8, 8.276 yuan)
Date:10/24/2001
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