(AFP) - A local businessman is betting on a prized and endangered Asian fish species to lure investors when his company becomes the first aquaculture firm to be listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE).

The Asian Arowana, which can sell for up to US$50,000 (RM200,000) and is regarded as a bringer of good fortune, will be the main attraction when Xian Leng Holdings Bhd. debuts December 5 on the KLSE secondary board.

Xian Leng is the world's largest breeder of the Asian Arowana, and the company's 42-year-old founder Ng Huan Tong believes the fish will be his lucky charm as he swims against the negative economic currents in the region by going for a company listing amid a regional slowdown.

It offered for sale 1.5 million new shares at RM1.65 each to the public, and 5.78 million shares to private investors.

"The fish is a good luck omen for Asian businessmen and is more sought after now in stressful times," said Ng, a son of pig breeders who dropped out of school at age 17 and spent much of his childhood playing with fish and rearing them in his backyard.

In 1980, Xian Leng started off as a small fish farm which has expanded to include a 50-acre operation in Johor, devoted to the Asian Arowana.

The company was the first to register with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) for commercial breeding of Asian Arowanas in 1994.

Two years later it got its big break when it secured an export licence. The Asian Arowana, a carnivorous fish indigenous to Southeast Asia, was listed by CITES as an endangered species in 1980 amid over-exploitation due to high demand and value, coupled with environmental degradation.

Research findings from fossils show that the Arowana traces its ancestry back to the Jurassic era some 200 million years ago.

'Good luck charm'

In Asian folklore, the Arowana is known as a "good luck charm" bringing peace, harmony and prosperity for businessmen, while some keep it to ward off evil.

The Chinese call it the "Dragon Fish" because its elongated body, large mouth, eyes and barbels on the lower jaw resemble images of the mythical beast.

It is this mythical belief in the fish that keeps the cash registers at Xian Leng busy.

ast year, the company's turnover soared to RM25.37 million ringgit. Revenue is projected to grow at between 15 and 20 percent annually in the next few years, Ng says.

Xian Leng's farm in Johor is located at the foot of a hill reserve, with high fencing, watchdogs and closed circuit television to safeguard its precious swimming investments.

The farm has 96 ponds, a hatchery and nursery to breed the Asian Arowana, which can spawn an average of 30 eggs at one time.

Arowana male fishes, which have wide and deep mouths, pick up the eggs after fertilisation and incubate them in the mouth for about two months before the fry can survive on their own.

At the farm, Ng says, each fish is injected with a coded microchip for identification purposes and issued a certificate of origin and identity to certify its authenticity under CITES rules.

Xian Leng's business is 90 percent export-oriented, with Japan its biggest market followed by Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, Switzerland and Canada.

'Blue-chip'

The company says the Asian Arowana is considered a "blue-chip" investment in Japan by both traders and hobbyists. Normally sold for between US$100 and US$2,000 dollars, some special specimens have fetched figures in the region of US$50,000 or more.

Xian Leng has put on sale a six-inch albino Arowana, with a silver body and red eyes, in a Japanese retail shop for 20 million yen (US$150,000).

The company, which breeds about 20 variants of Asian Arowanas, spends around RM2 million a year to develop new hybrids.

For future expansion, it aims to tap markets in Taiwan, the United States and Europe and open retail franchises next year in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

It also plans to diversify into breeding of other exotic species including Japanese carp and cichlids, or "flowerhorns," which some believe can display four-digit winning lottery numbers on their bodies.