Chinese fertiliser maker Bodisen Biotech starts trading on AIM on Monday after a £12 million placing.

Broker Charles Stanley arranged the placing for Bodisen, which is already listed on the American Stock Exchange, where the shares have recently traded at $18 – substantially above the $13 (£8) price at which the oversubscribed AIM placing was carried out. At the American price, the company boasts a market value of $279 million.

‘This is the first company to obtain a dual listing on AMEX and AIM,’ says Richard Thompson of Charles Stanley, who has been working on the complicated transaction for almost a year. ‘We needed to obtain SEC registration in the US,’ he explained.

Bodisen, which makes organic fertiliser in both liquid and compound forms, is also the biggest Chinese business yet to float on AIM, joining such ventures as orange grower Asian Citrus.

Bodisen has seen revenues more than treble since 2002 and Charles Stanley predicts net profits of $5 million for 2005 on turnover up 76 per cent to $28.6 million. The money raised will fund the construction of two new factories in China to expand the company’s distribution range.

Founders and executive directors Qiong Wang and Bo Chen will see their 47.4 per cent stake diluted by almost ten per cent. A range of UK institutions supported the AIM flotation, alongside pre-IPO investor SovGem, which itself is listed on AIM.

Yesterday SovGem issued a trading update, revealing a net asset value of 24.5p a share, against a recent share price of 15p. SovGem has also backed five other Chinese or Russian ventures, including OFEX-traded Concorde Oil & Gas, which has nearly quadrupled in value. Concorde plans to join AIM shortly.

Another intriguing concern is Russian timber producer Tynda Forest, which also hopes to join AIM this year. The company operates just over the border from China in the far east of Russia and supplies markets nearby. Tynda boasts mining specialist Peter Hambro as chairman. His son Leo is managing director.

Expect some lively trading on Monday.