LiNiu signs agreement with leading agricultural park

Junket operator turned agricultural trading platform operator LiNiu Technology Group – formerly Iao Kun Group Holding Company – has signed a strategic co-operation agreement with Shou Guang Agriculture Logistics Park, according to a company release. The agricultural company, a subsidiary of agricultural wholesale group Dili Group Holdings, is located in Shougang, China, and operates a market for vegetables and fruit, and agricultural products as well as an e-business.
The agreement will see the two companies collaborate on product offerings, information resources, consumers and management of the logistics park in Shouguang, with LiNiu set to provide ‘advanced technology’ relating to GPS, Intelligent Transportation Systems, Electronic Data Interchange and more ‘in order to grow the information management centre of the logistics park,’ notes the release.
LiNiu will also have access to Shou Gaung’s ‘production, sales, distribution and logistics big data,’ while LiNiu will provide access to ‘Internet sales channels’ through its agricultural trading platform.
The agriculture logistics park includes 3,000 acres of vegetables, fruit and agriculture material trading areas as well as zones for agricultural products processing, storage, logistics and services, notes the release, pointing to an annual trading volume of vegetables, fruit, agriculture and ‘sideline products’ of ‘approximately 10 billion kilograms’ valued at RMB80 billion (US$12.15 billion/MOP97.88 billion) last year, with ‘projects trading volume in excess of 10 billion kilograms and valued at over RMB80 billion in 2017,’ notes the release.
Former investors in the parent company of Shou Guang, Dili Group Holdings, include private equity and asset management company Blackstone, which bought a US$194 million stake in the company in March 2010 as part of a consortium, according to the Financial Times.
The purchase at the time amounted to approximately 10 per cent of Dili, notes the publication, which was later sold in the first quarter of 2011, earning Blackstone a 16.5 per cent return.