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Firms Line Up to IPO in Hong Kong After Asia’s Biggest Week for Listings

Companies Line Up to List IPOs in Hong Kong After Asia’s Biggest Week

(Bloomberg) -- Companies are lining up to list in Hong Kong as a dry spell for initial public offerings comes to an abrupt end with two multi-billion dollar listings.

At least three firms began gauging investor demand for their IPOs on Monday, a week after Asia had its biggest week for listings all year. E-cigarette device maker Smoore International Holdings Ltd. and the property management arm of Zhenro Properties Group are among those testing appetites. Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical Group Co. is also meeting investors, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Another, medical device maker Kangji Medical Medical Holdings Ltd., kicked off a roadshow for an IPO that could raise as much as $404 million.

Activity is finally picking up after a hiatus in IPOs caused by a spike in volatility as markets slumped earlier this year on concerns about the economic impact of the coronavirus. While Hong Kong stocks have not fully recovered from their March low, two successful listings by Chinese tech giants NetEase Inc. and JD.com Inc. to raise a combined $6.6 billion in the past two weeks -- almost double what had been raised all year -- have injected some vitality into the city’s IPO market.

With $10.12 billion raised so far, Hong Kong is still not back among the top three exchanges worldwide for IPOs after it dropped to fifth place earlier this year, but with the upcoming deals it has a fighting chance at pushing ahead of rival exchanges in Shanghai and New York. Smoore could raise at least $800 million, while China Bohai Bank Co. is planning to gauge investor demand later this month for an IPO that could raise at least $2 billion, Bloomberg News has reported.

UPCOMING LISTINGS:

  • JD.com Inc.
    • Hong Kong exchange
    • Size $3.9b
    • Listing June 18
    • Bank of America, UBS, CLSA
  • China Bohai Bank
    • Hong Kong exchange
    • Size about $2b
    • Pre-marketing from June 22
    • CCBI, Haitong, ABC International, CLSA
  • SK Biopharmaceuticals
    • Korea stock exchange
    • Size up to $805m
    • Pricing June 19, listing around July 2
    • NH Investment & Securities, Citi, Morgan Stanley
  • Hygeia Healthcare Holdings Co.
    • Hong Kong exchange
    • Pre-marketing from June 8
    • Morgan Stanley, Haitong
  • Kangji Medical Holdings Ltd.
    • Hong Kong exchange
    • Size up to $404m
    • Pricing June 19, trading June 29
    • Goldman Sachs, Citic Securities, Bank of America
  • Smoore International Holdings
    • Hong Kong exchange
    • Size at least $800m
    • Pre-marketing from June 15
    • CLSA
  • Zhenro Services Group
    • Hong Kong exchange
    • Pre-marketing from June 15
    • CCB International, BNP Paribas

More ECM situations we are following:

  • Zhenro Services Group Ltd., the property management arm of China’s Zhenro Properties Group, starts gauging investor demand from Monday for its proposed Hong Kong initial public offering, according to terms of the deal seen by Bloomberg News
  • E-cigarette device maker Smoore International Holdings Ltd. starts gauging investor demand from Monday for its proposed Hong Kong initial public offering, according to terms of the deal obtained by Bloomberg News
  • Kangji Medical Holdings Ltd. offers 225.4m shares at HK$12.36–HK$13.88 apiece, according to terms for the deal obtained by Bloomberg
  • MerryMart Consumer Corp., a Philippine grocer that went public amid the pandemic, sold like hotcakes on its first trading day. Its shares surged by the daily limit of 50% even as the index posted its biggest loss in two months

See also:

  • Asia ECM Weekly Agenda
  • IPO data
  • U.S. ECM Watch
  • EU ECM Watch
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