(Yicai) Oct. 24 -- Minmetals Land, a Chinese property developer backed by state-owned conglomerate China Minmetals, will delist from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange through privatization after reporting losses for three consecutive years. Its shares surged over 90 percent today.

Shares of Minmetals Land [HK: 0230] jumped 92 percent to close at HKD0.94 (US 10 cents), giving the firm a market capitalization of about HKD3.1 billion (USD398.9 million). The stock had been suspended since Sept. 30 pending a major announcement and had already risen 40 percent on its last trading day before the suspension.

June Glory International, a subsidiary of China Minmetals, will acquire all of Minmetals Land’s publicly traded shares at HKD1 apiece -- a 104 percent premium to the closing price on Sept. 29 -- the company said yesterday. June Glory, which already owns about 61.9 percent of Minmetals Land, will pay HKD1.3 billion in cash to remaining shareholders.

Minmetals Land said the decision to delist was due to persistently low trading volumes and a continued undervaluation of its shares, which have constrained its ability to raise capital and weakened the advantages of maintaining a listing.

Founded in 1993, Minmetals Land is a real estate arm of China Minmetals, a major metal and mining group under the direct supervision of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council. The developer has more than 80 residential and commercial projects across over 20 Chinese cities, according to its website.

Minmetals Land has reported net losses for three straight years amid China’s prolonged property market downturn, recording losses of HKD1.4 billion in 2022, HKD1 billion in 2023, and HKD3.5 billion in 2024.

Business performance has yet to recover this year. In the first half, the firm’s net loss narrowed 44 percent to HKD585 million (USD75.3 million) from a year earlier, but revenue plunged 61 percent to HKD2 billion, its latest financial report showed.

Editor: Emmi Laine