News

SYDNEY – Chinese home appliances maker Midea Group rose by up to 9.5 per cent on its trading debut in Hong Kong on Sept 17 after raising nearly US$4 billion (S$5.2 billion) in the city’s largest share offering in almost four years, bolstering hopes for a revival in large Chinese issuances. Midea, also listed in Shenzhen, priced its shares at HK$54.80 each in its Hong Kong float. It rose as high as HK$60 per share, 9.5 per cent above the offer price, with 34.6 million shares worth HK$2.04 billion changing hands. Midea is the most actively traded stock by turnover on the Hong Kong market so far on Sept 17, exchange data showed. Midea sold 565.9 million shares in the deal which bankers are hoping could revive Hong Kong’s faltering capital markets where share sales have dived to the lowest point in more than a decade. The final price set was about a 20 per cent discount to Midea’s Shenzhen listed share price. Chinese shares typically trade at a premium compared to Hong Kong-listed stocks. Midea increased the number of shares on sale at the end of the transaction after receiving strong demand from investors during the book-building process. The institutional tranche was oversubscribed by eight times and the Hong Kong retail offering portion was 5.31 times covered, according to Midea’s regulatory filings. The oversubscription rates, while higher than recent Hong Kong deals, remain well below the city’s capital markets’ boom in 2021 when transactions were hundreds of times covered. Trade tensions between the United States and China, and high interest rates globally have dampened foreign investors’ appetite to buy into greater China equity capital markets deals, according to bankers and advisers. Midea’s deal means there have been US$6.5 billion worth of initial public offerings and listings in Hong Kong so far in 2024, according to Dealogic data, compared to US$2.7 billion at the same time last year. At the same time in 2021, when Hong Kong’s markets were at a record high, there had been US$35.7 billion, the data showed. REUTERS