Hong Kong to See Its First Listing Over $1 Billion in More Than Six Months

(Bloomberg) --

Hong Kong is finally set to see its first billion-dollar plus listing in more than six months.

Chinese internet company NetEase Inc. launched a second listing in the financial hub on Monday that could raise as much as $2.8 billion, based on the maximum price it set for the offering. It’s by far the largest initial share sale in the city all year and the first that could raise over $1 billion since e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd.’s massive $13 billion second listing in November.

Hong Kong hasn’t had a hiatus of billion-dollar initial public offerings last this long since the financial crisis over a decade ago, when there were no such deals for almost a year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. This year’s coronavirus pandemic, the market slump and the volatility it caused, resulted in many offerings being put on hold as issuers waited for more favorable conditions.

Just $3.47 billion has been raised through IPOs in Hong Kong this year, putting it behind both New York-based stock exchanges and mainland Chinese ones, the data show. It’s the first time in six years that Hong Kong isn’t part of the top three listing venues globally, but with half of the year to go, rankings may well change.

With NetEase set to price its stock offering on Friday and China’s No. 2 online retailer JD.com Ltd. targeting a second listing in the city that could raise at least $2 billion soon after, Hong Kong’s IPO activity could pick up as other issuers look to take advantage of the momentum.

Escalating tensions between the U.S. and China are also seen as potentially boosting Hong Kong’s status as a listing venue for Chinese firms, as Washington has taken aim at the accounting standards of companies from the Asian nation and moved to limit some government pension funds from investing in Chinese stocks.

UPCOMING LISTINGS:

• NetEase Inc.
  • Hong Kong exchange
  • Size up to $2.8b
  • Pricing June 5, listing June 11
  • CICC, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan
• JD.com Inc.
  • Hong Kong exchange
  • Size about $2b
  • Listing expected June 18
  • Bank of America, CLSA, UBS
• Dada Nexus Ltd.
  • Nasdaq exchange
  • Size up to $280m
  • Pricing June 4
  • Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Jefferies
• Legend Biotech Corp.
  • Nasdaq exchange
  • Size up to $368.5m
  • Pricing June 4
  • Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Jefferies
• Burning Rock Biotech Ltd.
  • Nasdaq
  • Size $100m
  • Filed May 22
  • Morgan Stanley, BofA, Cowen & Co., CMBI, Tiger Brokers

More ECM situations we are following:

• Uday Kotak sold part of his stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. for about 69.4 billion rupees ($919 million), as the billionaire cut his ownership in the lender he founded to comply with central bank regulations.
• The order books for NetEase Inc.’s Hong Kong second listing are oversubscribed, according to people familiar with the matter.
• Dada Nexus, an operator of crowd-sourced delivery platforms in China backed by JD.Com Inc., is seeking to raise as much as $280 million in a U.S. initial public offering.
• Chinese toy retailer Pop Mart filed an IPO application to the Hong Kong stock exchange, according to a notice on its website.

See also:

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