HK's IPO market taking off

A woman walks past a China Everbright Bank Co Ltd branch in Beijing on Tuesday. The bank raised more than $1.6 billion from cornerstone investors for a planned initial public offering in Hong Kong that could be the city's biggest of the year. Wang Zhao / AFP

Hong Kong's IPO market is seeing a revival, as new deals are flooding the market after the mainland's plan to overhaul the economy was announced.

Bad-debt manager China Cinda Asset Management Co Ltd will soon lose its title as Hong Kong's biggest IPO this year, which it grabbed days ago, to China Everbright Bank Co Ltd, which launched a $2.8 billion offering on Tuesday.

Cinda, one of the four major bad-debt managers established in 1999 to save then-faltering State-owned lenders, said on Wednesday that it raised HK$18.5 billion ($2.4 billion) by issuing 5.3 billion shares at HK$3.58 each, the top of the price range. The shares will start trading on Thursday.

Funds from the offering will boost bad-debt management, financial investments and asset management, it added.

The announcement came after China Everbright Bank, the lending unit of State-owned China Everbright Group, said in its prospectus that it plans to raise up to $2.8 billion by offering 5.08 billion new shares at HK$3.83 to HK$4.27 apiece. The country's 11th-largest lender is joining its mainland peers in a fundraising spree ahead of new regulations that require lenders to hold more capital as a buffer to risks.

Everbright's 19 cornerstone investors include Ocean Fortune Investment Ltd, Ever Ideal Ltd, Prudential Insurance Co of America, Sun Life Assurance Co of Canada and Sinochem International (Overseas) Pte Ltd. Those investors pledged to buy shares worth $1.74 billion, representing about 70 percent of the value of the IPO.

Cornerstone investors are usually big institutions that promise large share purchases in advance and promise to hold them for at least six months.

The two major offerings are helping Hong Kong's IPO market regain vigor. Investors were worried that the city might see last year's doom extended, after it missed out on the huge offering by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd earlier this year. But a slew of other offerings saved the market from another lackluster year.

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