The investment and financing roadshow of marine small and medium-sized enterprises "went north" for the first time: blue bonds continued to expand, and the marine biological industry attracted attention

Zheng Wei, an all-media reporter from Southern Finance and Economics, reported from Guangzhou

"Overall, the marine industry has the characteristics of high investment, high income and high risk, and the demand for professional and systematic financial support for the high-quality development of the marine economy is still very urgent. Recently, Deng Kangqiao, deputy director of the Department of Marine Strategic Planning and Economy of the Ministry of Natural Resources, said at the blue bond and marine SME investment and financing roadshow (hereinafter referred to as the "roadshow") held in Qingdao, Shandong.

The Marine SME Investment and Financing Roadshow is a blue financial brand event sponsored by the Department of Marine Strategic Planning and Economy of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, which has landed in the core cities of the northern marine economic circle for the first time since its launch in 2016.

In 2022, the total marine production value of Beihai District, which covers Shandong, Liaoning, Hebei and Tianjin, will reach 2,937.2 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 6.7%, although the total scale of the marine economy is still relatively small, but the growth rate is outstanding, exceeding the level of the East China Sea (5.12%) and the South China Sea (5.43%) in the same period.

The Southern Finance and Economics all-media reporter learned that the roadshow attracted Guoxin Hongsheng Private Equity Fund Management Co., Ltd., the investment banking department of the Agricultural Bank of China, Shanghai Puwei Yinghua Venture Capital Management Co., Ltd., Ningde Huihui Private Equity Fund Management Co., Ltd. and other investment institutions to explore "blue potential stocks".

Blue bonds continue to expand

At the roadshow, blue bonds, a new investment and financing tool, became one of the hot keywords of sea-related enterprises and financial institutions.

"As a new type of financing tool that has started rapidly at home and abroad in recent years, blue bonds provide financial support for the sustainable use of marine resources and the protection of the marine ecological environment, and are an important means to promote the sustainable and healthy development of the ocean and promote the realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Cui Xiaojian, deputy director of the National Marine Information Center, said that at present, 27 labeled blue bonds have been issued in China, raising more than 17 billion yuan, which strongly supports the development of marine renewable energy, seawater desalination, deep-sea aquaculture and other industries.

Among them, the "20 Qingdao Water GN001 (Blue Bond)" issued in 2020 is the first blue bond in China and the first blue bond for non-financial enterprises in the world. According to the 2022 annual report of Qingdao Water Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Qingdao Water Group"), as of April 28, 2023, the 300 million yuan raised by "20 Qingdao Water GN001 (Blue Bond)" has been fully used, and the expansion project of Qingdao Baifa Seawater Desalination Plant has formed a freshwater production capacity of 200,000 cubic meters per day.

"In November this year, we issued a new blue-labeled SCP product (ultra-short-term financing bonds), and in 2024, we plan to continue to make a breakthrough on the exchange. At the roadshow, Sui Xiaohui, head of the finance department of Qingdao Water Group, said that blue bonds provide a sustainable financing channel for the marine sector, and are expected to become an important financing tool for the sustainable development of the global blue economy and promote the sustainable transformation of the marine industry chain and supply chain.

"Blue bonds are an innovative variety of corporate bonds, which have certain comparative advantages in terms of cost, review efficiency, product term, collateral and other aspects. Wang Guoqiang, regional cultivation director of the bond business department of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, further analyzed. As of December 20, 2023, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange has issued a total of 8 blue bonds, with an issuance scale of about 5.6 billion yuan.

It is worth noting that in addition to Qingdao Water Group, Shandong Marine Culture and Tourism Development Group Co., Ltd. and Weifang Lichuang Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. also introduced the company's blue bond issuance plan for marine life and green ship projects at the roadshow. Although it has not yet formed a scale advantage, China's blue bond market is expected to accelerate its expansion as market participation continues to increase.

In general, to serve the protection of marine ecology and the sustainable development of the economy, China has successively launched sustainable blue finance investment and financing tools such as blue bonds, blue funds, and blue loans, involving debt financing, equity financing, marine insurance, and value realization of ecological products.

The marine biology industry is in the spotlight

At the roadshow site, the new development opportunities brought by a number of marine biological enterprises have also attracted the attention of investment institutions. Among the 8 marine SMEs participating in the roadshow, many are from the marine biological industry, involving many innovative fields such as marine drugs and marine functional foods.

Among them, Zhan Jinming, general manager of Jiangsu Aoxin Bioengineering Co., Ltd., shared with the guests the new breakthroughs in the application of the company's main chitin products in the two major fields of marine drugs and marine new materials, hoping to further expand the production capacity of new products with the help of equity financing.

"This round hopes to raise 60 million yuan and sell 15% of the shares, mainly for the purchase of equipment and environmental protection facilities. Zhan Jinming said that after the completion of this round of expansion, it is expected that the company's annual production capacity can be greatly increased, realize the large-scale production of ammonia sugar APIs, and promote the company to find new growth points in various application scenarios such as downstream bio-based materials, adhesives, coatings, etc.

According to data released by the Ministry of Natural Resources, the country's marine GDP in the first three quarters of 2023 increased by 5.8% year-on-year, 0.6 percentage points higher than the national GDP growth rate. Among them, the marine drug and biological products industry will achieve an added value of 69.5 billion yuan and 74.6 billion yuan in 2021 and 2022 respectively, with a year-on-year growth rate of 20.9% and 7.1% respectively, and the production scale of marine biological products continues to expand. Focusing on the Beihai District, in 2022, the marine medicine and biological products industry in the Beihai District also achieved a net added value of 18.64 billion yuan, a nominal increase of 8.8% over the previous year.

As one of the three major marine economic circles in China, the northern marine economic circle, with Qingdao and Dalian as the core, has also delivered a brilliant "report card" in the growth rate of marine economy in recent years. In 2021, the GDP of the Northern Marine Economic Circle reached 2,586.7 billion yuan, a nominal increase of 15.1% over the previous year, and although the total scale is still relatively small, the nominal growth rate has exceeded that of the Eastern Marine Economic Circle with Shanghai, Ningbo and other cities as the core (12.8%), and the Southern Marine Economic Circle with Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other cities as the core (13.2%).

Talking about the next step of the development of the marine economy in the Beihai area, Du Jipeng, director of the Beihai Bureau of the Ministry of Natural Resources and secretary of the sub-party group, said at the roadshow that sea-related small and medium-sized enterprises have become the foundation of the sustainable development of the marine economy with their important role in activating the marine economy, improving technological innovation capabilities, improving market structure, improving market mechanisms, and increasing the stability of economic and social operations. Broaden the scope of cooperation, deepen the content of cooperation, and better serve marine small and medium-sized enterprises.

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