Morgan Stanley’s Having a Bumper Year in Hong Kong

(Bloomberg) -- A record streak for share sales by health-care and biotech companies in Hong Kong is translating into a bumper year for Morgan Stanley.

The U.S. bank has a 20.3% market share of equity offerings in Hong Kong this year, the biggest since 1999, according to Bloomberg League Tables. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is next accounting for 7.88% while China International Capital Corp. is third with 6.25%.

Both Wall Street banks have been active in the health-care space this year, advising companies on their initial public offerings and follow-on share sales in Hong Kong which have raised $11.2 billion this year, more than any previous full-year tally, data compiled by Bloomberg show. But Morgan Stanley has been particularly dominant: it has a 51% market share for such offerings, the League Tables show.

The flurry of share sales in the sector comes as it enjoys a rally even while broader equity indexes are down for the year. The coronavirus pandemic has contributed to a surge in investor demand for health-care stocks, with many IPOs pricing at the top and staging stunning debuts.

Helping Morgan Stanley with its market share are four follow-on offerings for WuXi Biologics (Cayman) Inc. in which it was sole bookrunner, capturing all the league table credit. Those deals -- a combination of block trades and fundraising -- have raised a combined $3.13 billion.

UPCOMING LISTINGS:

• Li Auto
  • Nasdaq
  • Size $1.1b
  • Trading July 30
  • Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, CICC
• Hangzhou Tigermed Consulting
  • Hong Kong stock exchange
  • Size up to $1.38b
  • Pricing July 31, listing Aug. 7
  • BofA, Haitong, CLSA, CICC
• KE Holdings
  • New York Stock Exchange
  • Size about $2b
  • Filed July 24
  • Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, China Renaissance, JP Morgan
• Gland Pharma Ltd.
  • India stock exchanges
  • Filed July 10
  • Citi, Haitong, Nomura, Kotak
• Mindspace REIT
  • India stock exchanges
  • Size up to $598m
  • Books open July 27-29, listing around Aug. 12
  • Morgan Stanley, BofA, Axis Capital, Citi, JM Financial, Kotak Mahindra, CLSA, Nomura, UBS, Ambit Capital, HDFC Bank, IDFC Bank, ICICI Securities
• AREIT
  • Philippines stock exchange
  • Raised $250m
  • Trading Aug. 13
  • BPI Capital, UBS

More ECM transactions we are following:

• China Evergrande Group is planning an initial public offering of its property management services unit in Hong Kong in the first half of 2021, IFR reported, citing unidentified people
• Chinese clinical research service provider Hangzhou Tigermed Consulting Co. is telling prospective investors it plans to price its Hong Kong listing at the top of the range, according to people familiar with the matter
• Chinese carmaker Li Auto Inc. raised $1.1 billion in an above-range U.S. initial public offering, adding to the market focus on electric-vehicle companies, according to terms of the deal reviewed by Bloomberg

See also:

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