PAG’s Yingde Is Said to Pick Banks for $1 Billion Hong Kong IPO

(Bloomberg) -- Yingde Gases Group Co., a Chinese industrial gases manufacturer, has selected banks for its Hong Kong initial public offering that could raise about $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company, owned by private equity firm PAG, is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley on the first-time share sale, the people said. Yingde Gases could file for the listing as soon as next month, said the people, who asked not to be named as the information is private.

An IPO would mark Yingde Gases’ return to the Hong Kong capital markets. It first went public in 2009 on the city’s stock exchange after raising about HK$4.1 billion ($527 million) in an IPO. The company had attracted takeover interest from StellarS Capital Hong Kong Ltd. and Air Products & Chemicals Inc. in 2016. PAG took the company private the following year in a $2.6 billion deal.

The latest offering could include Baosteel Gases, another Chinese gas manufacturer that PAG acquired in 2019, according to one of the people. Deliberations are ongoing and details of the IPO including size and timeline could still change, the people said. More banks could join the deal later, they added.

Representatives for Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and PAG declined to comment.

Yingde Gases, set up in 2001, mainly engages in gas production and supplies gas to industries including chemical, semiconductor and healthcare, according to its website. The company has more than 100 air separation units across China with a total oxygen manufacturing capacity of about 2.6 million normal meter cubed per hour and another 400,000 normal meter cubed per hour for synthesis gas.

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With assistance from Bloomberg