(Yicai Global) Dec. 10 -- China's largest dairy company, Yili Industrial Group, has finished the biggest private placement of CNY12 billion (USD1.9 billion) within the mainland's consumer staples industry by selling discounted shares to investors including the main buyers of Barclays and Goldman Sachs.

Yili sold 318 million shares to 22 investors, each share priced at CNY37.89 (USD6), the Hohhot-based firm said in a statement yesterday. The price equaled a nearly 9 percent discount from yesterday's closing price.

Barclays and Goldman Sachs each spent more than CNY1.4 billion (USD220 million) to lead the group of participants in the private placement. London-headquartered Barclays purchased 39 million shares and the New York-based peer bought 37 million units. Other participants included foreign investment banks such as UBS, JPMorgan Chase, and HSBC.

The dairy company revealed the fundraising plan in June, aiming for CNY13 billion. The proceeds of the massive funding will be spent on building a liquid milk production base, a smart factory for baby formula, as well as toward digital transformation. Moreover, some of the money would go into supplementing capital and repaying bank loans.

The financing has not changed Yili's top 10 shareholders. Hong Kong Securities Clearing is No. 1, even though its stake was reduced to 13.6 percent from 14.4 percent. The second-largest shareholder is Inner Mongolia Financial Investment Group with its 8.4 percent stake.

Yili is China's biggest dairy firm in terms of sales. In the first half of this year, its revenue rose almost 19 percent to CNY56.5 billion from a year ago, according to its earnings report. Meanwhile, its net profit jumped nearly 43 percent to CNY5.3 billion.

The firm's biggest competitor is China Mengniu Dairy. The rival that is also based in the same city in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region made CNY45.9 billion in revenue in the first half and CNY2.9 billion in net profit.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi