The picture shows a feed factory of New Hope Group in Indonesia. (Photo provided by New Hope)
As one of the lead arrangers, the Agricultural Bank of China Singapore Branch (ABC Singapore Branch) efficiently organized a club loan of 220 million U.S. dollars, which was like a timely rain shower, sprinkling hope on the fields of multiple feed factories and poultry farms of New Hope in Southeast Asia and the millions of local breeding households, ensuring the stable output of feed factories and the continuous supply of feed for poultry farms and farmers, according to Li Yunhua, the vice president of Overseas Business Division of New Hope Liuhe Co., Ltd. and the general manager of New Hope Singapore Pte. Ltd. He said that the efficient and comprehensive cross-border financial services provided by ABC Singapore Branch have given strong support for the enterprise to stand firm and expand its overseas business in the complicated international environment.
Thirty years ago, the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) established its first overseas branch in Singapore. More than ten years ago, New Hope Group used Singapore as a bridgeheadto accelerate its "going global" pace. Now, the two sides have joined hands again under the Belt and Road Initiative, using the power of funds to write a new chapter in international agricultural cooperation.
Collaborative "Unified Loan-Repayment" Satisfies Corporate Needs
Since 1999, New Hope Group has embarked on its global expansion. Its listed company, New Hope Liuhe Co., Ltd., established its first overseas feed production base in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, marking the concrete implementation of New Hope Group's internationalization strategy. With the continuous expansion of its business in Asia, New Hope Group established a wholly-owned subsidiary, New Hope Singapore Pte. Ltd., in Singapore in 2010. This subsidiary serves as a key regional hub for the Asian region, coordinating functions such as investment holding, cross-border financing, fund management, centralized procurement, and compliance risk control. As the scale of overseas business continues to grow rapidly, the financing coordination function of this subsidiary has become increasingly significant, providing strong financial support for New Hope Group's global operations.
In light of the operational characteristics of New Hope Group, where its overseas factories are widely distributed but centralized procurement and funds are managed by the regional headquarters in Singapore, ABC Singapore Branch and New Hope Singapore Pte. Ltd. jointly designed a "unified borrowing and repayment" cooperation framework. Under this arrangement, New Hope Singapore Pte. Ltd. serves as the unified financing entity to apply for loans from ABC Singapore Branch, with the funds being centrally allocated to each overseas factory for use. Meanwhile, the cash flows generated by the operations of each factory are collected by New Hope Group's Singapore headquarters and specifically used for loan principal and interest repayments. This model enables high approval, efficiency ensures centralized management of New Hope Group's funds and effectively reduces the financial costs associated with decentralized financing.
In 2023, New Hope Singapore Pte. Ltd. urgently needed to refinance a loan that was nearing maturity. ABC Singapore Branch responded promptly and held intense discussions on whether to provide financing given that the feed and livestock industry was at the trough of its business cycle at that time.
After thoroughly analyzing the borrower's factory layout, operational advantages, and growth potential in Southeast Asia, ABC Singapore Branch, as one of the lead banks, soon completed the formation of a 3-year club loan of 220 million U.S. dollars, with its own participation of 50 million U.S. dollars, providing robust support for the company's working capital needs.
Financial support is essential for enterprises aiming to "go global". At the start-up stage, leverage is critical to kickstart operations, and during the operation process, credit and settlement services are indispensable. With the strong backing from financial institutions, New Hope Group and its subsidiaries have fully leveraged their brand, technology, and channel advantages, steadily expanding business and operation scale while continuously enhancing their financial and operational performance.
The picture shows staff members taking a group photo in front of New Hope Singapore's high-end premix production base and R&D center. (Photo provided by New Hope)
Nurturing "Fields of Hope" to Enrich Local Livelihoods
From feed to breeding, New Hope Group has been investing and laying out in Southeast Asia for over 25 years, driving the local formation of a relatively complete industrial chain of "raw material collection and trade - feed - breeding poultry - livestock and poultry breeding", and actively exploring downstream slaughtering and meat processing business.
The financial support from banks not only leveraged the enterprise's capacity expansion and upgrading, but also sowed the seeds of "people-to-people connectivity". The project of New Hope Singapore Pte. Ltd. in Indonesia has directly or indirectly created over 100,000 jobs for the local area, supported local farmers, feed factories and food enterprises to develop simultaneously, cooperated with Chinese colleges and universities to cultivate "localized" talents, and actively engaged in education, relief and other public welfare undertakings.
"New Hope not only provided us with chicks, feed and vaccines, but also regularly conducted training on breeding techniques and disease prevention, offering comprehensive support throughout the breeding cycle of broilers, reducing the breeding costs for farmers. Moreover, it signed a recovery agreement with us, ensuring the sales of broilers and maximizing the income of small-scale farmers," said a local broiler cooperative farmer.
Cultivating Fertile Financial Ground to Propel Chinese Brand Globalization
In recent years, with New Hope's food products available on the shelves of Singapore's supermarkets, the brand's influence has quietly risen in the local market. In the first quarter of 2025, New Hope Singapore Pte. Ltd. repaid the club loan from ABC Singapore Branch ahead of schedule and remitted the surplus funds back to the headquarters, demonstrating its excellent operational and risk management capabilities.
"Given the high land prices in Singapore, the government has reserved land for New Hope to set up its R&D and production bases and offered preferential policies to its treasury center. This in itself is a recognition of the company's strength," said Zhou Jiansi, the deputy director of the Trade Finance Department of ABC Singapore Branch, who is in charge of serving New Hope Singapore Pte. Ltd. "As a service bank, we are proud of this," Zhou said.
ABC Singapore Branch has been actively supporting agricultural sector's "going global" strategy and serving local livelihoods. After three decades of dedicated efforts, it has drawn a new picture of comprehensive services for enterprises' "going global", from its own "going global" to "taking root", and established a comprehensive product system and financial service covering deposits and loans, trade finance, international settlement, financial markets, and investment banking.
The cooperation between ABC Singapore Branch and New Hope Singapore Pte. Ltd. is not limited to credit and financing but also extends to comprehensive business areas such as account management, online banking settlement, as well as investment and wealth management, providing solid support for Chinese agricultural brands to go global and helping to buildglobally competitive agricultural enterprises. In the future, both sides will continue to work together and expand deeper financial cooperation in Southeast Asia, jointly sowing more "new hopes" in the fertile financial soil of the Belt and Road. (By Liu Chuntao)
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