China's largest tea company plans massive IPO
Ten Fu Tea, China's largest tea producer in terms of sales, is planning to list its shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The initial public offering is expected to raise approximately $300 million. Ten Fu Tea is looking to use the funding for further domestic expansion. It currently operates more than 1'100 chain stores in mainland China, up from 543 in early 2006. The company is involved in tea packaging, sales, research and development, tea culture and education and traveling. According to industry experts, Ten Fu Tea has made breakthroughs in terms of profitability and cross-regional development. Both are difficult for Chinese tea firms to achieve, because the majority of them are small- and medium-sized businesses. Insiders say that Chinese tea companies trail their international counterparts and need to adopt modern management and business models in order to compete.