---

COSCO International Holdings Limited has announced that it is planning to dispose of its 16.85% interest in Sino-Ocean Land Holdings Limited in order to finance the future development of its core shipping services business and the 'possible' acquisition of bunker supply business(es) from COSCO Group.

In a statement, Mr. Wang Xiaodong, Managing Director of COSCO International, said, “In accordance with our strategic positioning and the principle of maximising corporate value and shareholders’ returns, COSCO International strives for sustainable development. In the past few years, by disposing of non-core business assets including property, COSCO International has focused on development of its core business to become a specialised shipping services provider and has achieved satisfactory results.

"The profit before income tax from the shipping services segment increased from HK$124 million in 2004 to HK$325 million in 2009, up 161% with a CAGR of 21%. After the global financial crisis, we have noted that the shipping and shipbuilding industry have accelerated their steps to shift geographically to Asia, especially to China. This creates unprecedented opportunities for the expansion of our core shipping services business. Therefore, we decided to dispose of SOLHL’s shares not only to maximise shareholders’ returns but also to bring it in line with the Company’s development strategy and its positioning in shipping services. This will be a final and important step of COSCO International’s strategic business transformation."

Wang Xiaodong added: "The proceeds from the disposal of shares of SOLHL will be used for the further development of shipping services. We have actively researched into future merger and acquisition opportunities in some shipping services projects with large scale and good profitability relating to COSCO Group or non-COSCO Group. We are currently in discussions with COSCO Group in relation to the possible acquisition of supply of bunker oil and other businesses."

The company added that even though it was in talks over a possible bunker business acquisition, no binding agreement has yet been signed.

"We will make good use of the proceeds and focus on the development of core business to develop a supply chain of shipping services of high relevance and sharing common resources as well as cyclically complementary. Our aim is to become an integrated shipping related services provider with considerable scale, providing quality and professional services for fleets in China and worldwide,” Wang Xiaodong said.