China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corp shares surged in their first day of trading, ending a 16-month suspension triggered by Singapore's biggest derivatives scandal since the collapse of Barings Plc.

 

Shares of the jet-fuel trader jumped to S$1.64 (US$1.01) at the 5:05 pm close in Singapore, a day after the company said it completed a reorganization under which creditors wrote off debt and investors put up new capital.

 

The start of trading completes the rehabilitation of China Aviation Oil, twice named Singapore's most transparent company before it revealed a US$550 million trading loss in November 2004.

 

BP Plc, Europe's largest oil company, in December agreed to take a 20 percent stake in China Aviation Oil, which will refocus operations on its main business, a near-monopoly on the supply of jet fuel to China.

 

"Having BP is going to open a lot more doors for them and this company is going to be a lot bigger," said Donald Gimbel, senior managing director at New York-based Carret & Co, which owns shares of China Aviation Oil. "I won't sell my shares."

 

China Aviation Oil sought court protection from creditors after revealing the losses, built up because of bad bets on the price of oil.

 

The scandal occurred nine years after rogue trader Nick Leeson cost Barings US$1.4 billion and its independence, and prompted Singapore's regulators to pledge to improve scrutiny of financial markets in the city.

 

Shares in the Singapore-based company last traded at 96.5 Singapore cents apiece. The stock climbed to a high of S$1.89 in March 2004, more than triple their December 2001 debut.

 

BP last year agreed to pay US$44 million for a fifth of China Aviation Oil. China's oil consumption is expected to increase 6 percent this year, more than double the pace during 2005, the International Energy Agency, an adviser to 26 oil-consuming nations, forecast this month.

 

"BP's involvement will help to restore public confidence," said Ong Eng Tong, a consultant to Hamburg-based oil trader Mabanaft International GmbH & Co.

 

"BP is the only major company that has something in China. They want a stake in China Aviation to supply to their own operations."

 

BP has invested more than US$3 billion on projects in China, the world's fastest-growing major economy and second-biggest oil consumer.

 

Air BP, a unit of the company, is the world's third-largest marketer of aviation fuels, selling almost 7 billion gallons of the oil product at more than 1,400 locations in about 90 countries, according to BP's website.

 

The jet-fuel trader is majority owned by Beijing-based State-owned enterprise China Aviation Oil Holding Co.

 

China Aviation Oil received a total of US$130 million from BP, Singapore State-owned investment company Temasek Holdings Pte, and the fuel trader's parent, which put up US$75.8 million to maintain a controlling 51 percent stake.

 

During the 16-month reorganization, the company merged existing stock, reducing the total number of shares to about 193.5 million from 967.7 million, and issued 529.3 million new shares at 51.5 Singapore cents each.

 

"This should form a `floor value' of S$0.515," DBS Vickers Securities Holdings Pte said in a report on Tuesday.

 

"This stock has long-term promise due to the growth prospects of Chinese aviation, but has high shorter-term risks, including earnings and valuation risks."

 

The company reported net income of S$12.7 million in 2005, boosted by contributions from Shanghai Pudong International Airport Aviation Fuel Supply Co and Spain's Compania Logistica de Hidrocarburos SA. It had a loss of S$864.9 million in 2004.

 

(China Daily March 30, 2006)