HONG KONG: Shares in Chinese electronic appliance maker Midea surged more than 9% on its Hong Kong debut yesterday, having raised around US$4bil in the city’s biggest initial public offering (IPO) for more than three years.
The firm spiked at HK$60 in early exchanges, up 9.5% from its HK$54.80 list price, which was at the top of the range indicated in its prospectus.
Midea’s bumper listing fuelled hopes that the Hong Kong bourse can attract more top Chinese firms and regain its crown as the world’s top venue for IPOs.
The finance hub has suffered a steady decline in new offerings since a regulatory crackdown by Beijing starting in 2020 led some Chinese mega-companies to put their plans on hold.
The city saw just 30 IPOs in the first half of this year, compared with more than 100 annually between 2013 and 2020.
Midea’s IPO has eclipsed the combined valuation of all of Hong Kong’s new listings so far this year, and is the city’s largest since JD Logistics and Kuaishou Technology in the first half of 2021.
The Foshan-based company last week expanded the number of shares on offer by around 15% to 566 million, an indicator of strong demand.
In a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday, the company said the international portion of the IPO was subscribed by more than eight times, before taking into account the adjustment to the offer size.
Midea chairman Paul Fang called the listing “a strategic step forward in the company’s globalisation”, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday.
Cornerstone investors, including a subsidiary of Cosco Shipping Holdings and part of UBS Asset Management Singapore, agreed to buy Midea stocks worth US$1.26bil.
Founded in 1968, Midea has become one of the world’s largest sellers of home appliances, such as washing machines and air conditioners, and also owns the German industrial robot maker Kuka. — AFP
