Pingtan Marine Enterprise Provides Update on its Operations

FUZHOU, China, May 11, 2017

Current Status of Some of Pingtan's Operations / Relationship with Indonesian Government

Pingtan is the second largest China-based fishery company operating its vessels outside of China waters.  Pingtan's business is to engage in ocean fishing, and currently conducts these operations through a fleet of Company owned vessels. In 2015, the China Agriculture Industry Development Fund Co., Ltd. invested approximately $65 million for an 8% equity interest in Pingtan's subsidiary Pingtan Fishing and currently holds the investment.  The China Agriculture Development Fund Co., Ltd. was established in 2012 by China's Ministry of Finance, Agricultural Development Bank of China, one of China's three state-owned policy banks, Cinda Asset Management Corporation (01359.HK), one of largest state-owned holding asset management company with register capital of 36 billion RMB, and CITIC Group, the biggest conglomerate of China. The China Agriculture Development Fund Co., Ltd. is the first China state-owned fund to focus on investing in all areas of the agriculture industry. This 4 billion RMB fund is managed by Cinda Asset Management Corporation.

Pingtan currently operates 140 fishing vessels. 12 vessels are operating in the Bay of Bengal in India, 13 vessels are operating in Indo-Pacific Waters, 4 vessels are operating in the international waters of Pacific Ocean and 2 vessels are operating in the international waters of Southwest Atlantic and Southeast Pacific Oceans since late December 2016.  All of these vessels are currently fully licensed to operate in their fishing territories. Pingtan's fleet has an average remaining useful life of approximately 13.4 years.

Based on its experience, the Company estimates that the purchase price its typical construction cost of a 150-foot fishing trawler to be is approximately $1.5 million, and Pingtan believes that the market value of its fleet is largely due to the required government-issued license on each vessel. Pursuant to China Distant Water Fisheries, there are approximately 2460 vessels from China that are operating in International waters that have qualified fishing licenses. The PRC government limits new license issuances. The Company considers the value of its fleet relatively similar to the taxi medallion market where the value of the limited license is greater than the physical cost of the means of transportation.

The Company initially operated in two areas, 1) the Exclusive Economic Zones in Arafura Sea in Indonesia and 2) in the Bay of Bengal in India.  However, as previously reported, the Indonesian government introduced a moratorium on issuing new fishing licenses and renewals so that the country's Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries could monitor the operations of existing fleets and to fight illegal fishing activities in December 2014. As a result, all licensed fishing vessels operating in Indonesian waters have been informed by the Indonesian government to operate within strict guidelines and subsequently to cease operation, in order to avoid potential enforcement actions, such as boat seizures, by the Indonesian Navy.

As a result, the Company ceased all operations in those waters in February 2015 and fully cooperated and complied with the Indonesian government.  The Company continues to voluntarily keep 104 of its available vessels in the region without any objection from the government, as it anticipates an eventual resumption of the license renewal process.