It’s the liquidity, stupid

HONG KONG (Dow Jones Investment Banker) – Singapore Exchange Ltd. (SGX) may have made headlines this year with the listing of one of Asia’s largest IPOs, Hutchison Port Holdings Trust, and, potentially, with the proposed flotation of Manchester United F.C., but Chinese mid-caps are increasingly leaving the shores of the Lion City to seek a quotation in Hong Kong. The reasons include, above all, greater liquidity, a wider following on the part of sell-side research analysts and, ultimately, a higher valuation.

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Trying us on for size

Hongguo International Holdings, a shoemaker and retailer based in Nanjing, is set to begin investor education for an IPO of US$200 million to US$300 million in Hong Kong. Book building is due to start towards the middle of next month, subject to market conditions.

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South China Morning Post opinion article

The market rout and volatility in Asia, and around the world, is likely to lead to an increasing number of cornerstone tranches in IPOs. Very much a feature of new listings in Hong Kong and, to a lesser extent, Singapore, cornerstone investors are large institutions that commit in advance to buying a fixed, pre-agreed allocation in a transaction.

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New China Life – fresh impetus for insurance stocks

HONG KONG (Dow Jones Investment Banker) – New China Life Insurance Co. Ltd (NCI) is set to come to market in both Hong Kong and Shanghai in October, with an IPO of US$3 billion to US$4 billion. If successful, it would become only the fifth listed insurance company from mainland China.

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A good year – getting better – for Asian convertibles?

HONG KONG (Dow Jones Investment Banker) – It’s gone largely unnoticed against the background of some eye-catching equity deals in Asia in the first half of the year – including the listings of Glencore, Hutchison Port Holdings Trust, Samsonite and Prada S.p.A. – and the recent market meltdown, but 2011 has so far been a pretty good year for convertible bonds.

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Baroque Japan should put IPO plans on ice

HONG KONG (Dow Jones Investment Banker) – Japanese fashion retailer Baroque Japan Ltd. is eyeing an IPO of up to US$300 million in Hong Kong, through CLSA and UBS. It may perhaps be better advised to wait until its international store network becomes wider, and the brand more mature.

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China Shipping Nauticgreen’s Chinese box surprise

HONG KONG (Dow Jones Investment Banker) – China Shipping Nauticgreen Holdings Company Limited (CSN) has just started bookbuilding for a proposed IPO of up to US$192 million in Hong Kong, led by Deutsche Bank and China Merchants Securities. Pricing is set for August 10. Less volatile than that of shipping lines, the business is expected to grow, thanks in part to a substantial newbuild ship overcapacity over the next couple of years which should drive freight prices down. With a likely single digit P/E, valuation is reasonable too – a welcome change from some recent Hong Kong offerings.

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Stork raving mad

Neither inflation, a simmering eurozone debt crisis nor the near death of the United States’ AAA rating will keep IPO bankers from their appointed rounds. Hong Kong’s new-listings market in the first half could be generously described as patchy, with most initial public offerings priced in that period trading under water and with 18 deals pulled or otherwise postponed – and markets were in meltdown mode last week. read

Freight expectations

Book building and the management roadshow started on August 1 for the proposed IPO of China Shipping Nauticgreen. With a price range of HK$1.56 to HK$2.50 per share, and 600 million new shares offered to investors to fund the purchase of containers, the deal was aiming to raise up to HK$1.5 billion. But as the US markets dropped more than 4 per cent overnight last Thursday, and the Hang Seng Index in turn tumbled almost 1,000 points on Friday morning, the deal was postponed until market conditions improve. read

The yuan goes international in Hong Kong

HONG KONG (Dow Jones Investment Banker) – As the amount of yuan held in deposit accounts in Hong Kong (so-called CNH) continues to pile up, China’s offshore financial product offering slowly expands, despite current restrictions on convertibility.

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