October 19, 2011

Global Sweeteners to acquire corn refinery plant

Global Sweeteners Holdings Limited has declared that its independent shareholders have affirmed the acquisition of a corn refinery plant under Global Bio-chem Technology Group Company Limited.

The acquisition of Changchun Jincheng Corn Development Co., Ltd. is expected to enable Global Sweeteners to secure and better control its own supply of raw material, corn starch, thereby increasing the company's flexibility to adjust its downstream production to meet market changes. Apart from better control its raw material supply, Global Sweeteners will also benefit from greater operational efficiency and strengthened quality control, the company said.

"The transaction was passed almost unanimously by all the independent shareholders who had cast their votes at the EGM, reflecting shareholders recognition of our strategy to enhance vertical integration. The acquisition of Changchun Jincheng will enable us to better control our raw material supply and increase our flexibility to ramp up our capacity utilisation and adjust product mix in response to market needs," said Zhang Fazheng, CEO of Global Sweeteners.

The acquisition of Changchun Jincheng, together with Jinzhou corn refinery's additional 300,000 tonnes per annum, or mtpa, corn processing capacity expected to be completed by the end of 2011, will increase Global Sweeteners' corn processing capacity from 600,000 mtpa to 1,500,000 mtpa.