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China Drives Asia IPO Activity Even as Virus Bites

China Drives Asia IPO Activity Even as Virus Bites

(Bloomberg) --

Initial public offerings in Asia are continuing at a healthy pace largely thanks to China, where listings have held up against the backdrop of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Companies in the region have raised $17 billion through IPOs in 2020, which is the most for this period of the year since at least 2010, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The bulk of the fundraising -- $10.5 billion -- comes from Chinese companies. Thailand also contributed, with a $2.5 billion IPO from Central Retail Corp., which had its debut on Thursday.

While the coronavirus outbreak that killed more than 2,000 lives and infected over 74,000 people has had an impact on deal activity -- particularly on mergers and acquisitions -- for some of them a lot of the work had been done before the Lunar New Year, when the scale of the epidemic was not yet clear. That’s the case for many of the mainland China IPOs that are being listed now, whose price consultations go through an order system run by the exchange.

Now there is a risk that the high IPO volume could taper off. The China Securities Regulatory Commission has had no IPO review meetings scheduled since the end of the Lunar New Year break, suggesting work is slowing down as the virus spreads. In Hong Kong, IPOs have remained quiet after a flurry listings in the first half of January. Just two companies have priced their initial share sales since mid-January.

Companies in Asia raised $7.8 billion through IPOs in the weeks before the holiday began on Jan. 24, whereas only $5.16 billion has been raised since Feb. 3, when China’s markets reopened after an extended break, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Thailand’s Central Retail accounts for half of that amount.

UPCOMING LISTINGS:

  • United Hampshire U.S. REIT
    • Singapore exchange
    • Size up to $350m
    • Pre-marketing started Feb. 5
    • UBS, Credit Suisse, UOB
  • Champ Resto Indonesia
    • Indonesia stock exchange
    • Size about $150m
    • Pre-marketing started Jan. 31
    • CLSA
  • Mr D.I.Y. Group
    • Bursa Malaysia
    • Size up to $500m
    • Pricing date TBD
    • CIMB, Maybank
  • Lion Air
    • Indonesia stock exchange
    • Size over $500m
    • Pre-marketing Jan. 27-Feb. 7
    • BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley

More ECM situations we are following:

  • Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical expects to raise about $400 million from a Hong Kong IPO, IFR reported, citing unidentified people close to the deal.
  • Shares in Thailand’s Central Retail slid after listing Thursday in the country’s largest initial public offering.

SEE ALSO:

  • Asia ECM Weekly Agenda
  • IPO data
  • U.S. ECM Watch
  • EU ECM Watch
  • To receive the ECM Watch in your inbox daily, click the “subscribe” button at the top of this article

To contact the reporter on this story: Julia Fioretti in Hong Kong at jfioretti4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lianting Tu at ltu4@bloomberg.net, Kurt Schussler, Cecile Vannucci

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.