(Yicai Global) March 18 -- Shares of China Zhongwang Holdings, one of the world's biggest aluminum processors, jumped after the firm said it plans a mainland listing through a reverse merger of its key aluminum extrusions business with real estate developer CRED Holding. The move follows four failed attempts to return to the mainland stock market.

China Zhongwang [HKG:1333] closed 3.94 percent higher in Hong Kong today at HKD2.64 (34 US cents), after earlier climbing as much as 12.6 percent. The benchmark Hang Seng Index lost 4.2 percent.

China Zhongwang will sell 96.55 percent of its stock in subsidiary Liaoning Zhongwang Group for an undisclosed sum to Beijing-based CRED in exchange for all of CRED's Xinjiang unit, the Liaoning province-based firm said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday. The two parties had planned a similar arrangement back in 2015, but it was called off in August 2018.

A backdoor listing will enable Liaoning Zhongwang to join the Shanghai bourse without needing to go through the formalities and expense of a public offering. The company will remain an indirect subsidiary of China Zhongwang after the deal is completed, the filing added.

The move will also allow the market to appraise and assess the value of the company more effectively and provide a separate fund-raising platform for the firm, it added.

Trading in CRED's stock [SHA:600890] was suspended today to allow for the re-structuring. Yesterday, it closed up 4.88 percent at CNY9.45 (USD1.35) per share.

Founded in 1993, China Zhongwang's three core businesses are aluminum extrusion, deep processing and aluminum rolling. Aluminum extrusion is a technique that makes the most of the metal's unique characteristics to produce products that offer the density and stiffness of other metals, such as steel, but which are also more malleable and lighter.

In 2018, the firm had net profit of CNY4.5 billion (USD641.4 million) on revenue of CNY25.6 billion (USD3.6 billion). In the third quarter of last year it had earnings of CNY18.65 billion.

Editor: Kim Taylor