(Yicai Global) July 6 -- Chinese photovoltaic cell producer and animal feed giant Tongwei is to buy the fish feed business and most of the pig fodder assets belonging to agricultural and animal husbandry firm Tech-Bank Food for no more than CNY1.5 billion (USD232 million).

Tongwei will pay Tech-Bank between CNY1.25 billion (USD193 million) and CNY1.5 billion for its aquatic feed operations and 51 percent of its pig feed business, Tech Bank said yesterday. The sale will allow Tech Bank to focus on pig farming and building a supporting industrial chain to improve its slaughter and food processing capabilities, it added.

Tech-Bank, which has been looking for partners to provide it with pig fodder for the past year, will rely on Tongwei, which already produces over 10 million tons of feed a year, to supply it with food for its hogs, the Nanjing, eastern Jiangsu province-based company added.

Last year, Tech-Bank logged a 25 percent jump in sales of fish and pig feed from the year before to CNY2.5 billion (USD387 million), according to its latest annual financial report. Altogether it sold 619,400 tons, an increase of 30 percent, of which sales of fish feed were down 14.68 percent to 180,800 tons and sales of pig feed soared 67 percent to 438,600 tons.

Tongwei’s main business is a producer of polysilicon and photovoltaic cells. It has an annual production capacity of 80,000 tons of high-purity polysilicon and 27.5 gigawatts of solar cells. Last year the Chengdu, southwestern Sichuan province-based company posted profit of CNY3.6 billion (USD557 million) and revenue of CNY44.2 billion (USD6.8 billion).

Tongwei’s share price [SHA:600438] closed down 4.74 percent today at CNY40.58 (USD6.28) while Tech-Bank’s stock price [SHE:002124] finished the day up 1.02 percent at CNY6.94 (USD1.07).

Editor: Kim Taylor