Espinasse on PICC
I was interviewed on CNBC’s “The Call” this morning by anchors Bernie Lo and Emily Chan on what’s in store for investors with the IPO in Hong Kong of mainland Chinese insurer PICC Group. read
Tag: IPO pipeline
Espinasse on CNBC’s “The Call”
I was interviewed this morning by anchors Bernie Lo and Emily Chan on CNBC’s programme “The Call” on the IPO trading debut for Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical in Hong Kong. read
Espinasse on Astro Malaysia’s IPO
I was invited on Bloomberg Television again this morning for a live interview on Astro Malaysia’s IPO debut in Kuala Lumpur – and on Asian IPOs generally – with anchor Rishaad Salamat in the “On The Move Asia” show. read
Hong Kong’s IPO misery continues
Hong Kong’s IPO drought continues. According to data from Thomson Reuters, the year to date has seen a respectable 42 new listings on the local bourse. But these offers combined raised only US$5.5 billion. read
Listless and bored
Around this time last year I wrote a preview of the IPOs expected to arrive on the Hong Kong market. It’s telling that most of those same deals are still in the pipeline, twisting in some interminable pre-launch marketing limbo. read
1H 2012 APAC IPO and ECM statistics
An old joke tells of two matrons having lunch at an expensive restaurant. One lady says, “The food is so bad,” and the other says, “Yes, and the portions are so small.” This neatly sums up IPO bankers’ first half: markets are challenging and they are working harder to sell smaller deals for less fee income. Bankers’ complaints about difficult deals are likely to be followed by grumbling that they don’t have enough of them. read
Murder on the Orient Express
Last week saw a little noticed event in the cosy world of investment banking, with Russian (and emerging markets) firm Renaissance Capital calling it quits, and closing its offices in both Hong Kong and Beijing after only two years on the ground in Asia. read
Financial Times article
I was quoted in an article in the Financial Times by Paul J. Davies, Robert Cookson and Sarah Mishkin entitled “Investors hang fire over Asia’s IPO pipeline”, on 2 April 2012. read
Blue-chips ahoy!
What a disappointing vintage 2011 will have been for IPOs. The first half of the year started well enough, but it all came to a halt, with a succession of macro events messing up the markets. read
Built on shaky ground
XCMG Construction Machinery is due to start investor education today for a proposed US$1.5 billion Hong Kong IPO. If it proceeds it will be the first listing greater than US$1 billion to test Hong Kong public sentiment since the US sovereign ratings downgrade sent global markets into a major wobble. This is a large offer arriving amid conditions generously described as lukewarm.