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
Tag: UK
Chinese IPO survey
Caixin magazine published last week an interesting survey, based on data compiled by Thomson Reuters, on IPOs by Chinese companies world-wide between January 2009 and June 2010, a 545-day period. read
SGX joins Premier League with Man. United float
HONG KONG (Dow Jones Investment Banker) – News that Manchester United plans to list 25% to 30% of its shares in a US$1 billion IPO on Singapore’s SGX came as a surprise – HKEx was very much expected to play host to the club, rather than Singapore’s smaller listing venue. A long-standing global focus at the exchange and clever marketing, as well as technical factors, may explain the decision. read
Hong Kong retail investors give IPOs a miss
HONG KONG (Dow Jones Investment Banker) – Despite all the hype and the almost weekly announcements of planned billion-dollar deals, retail investors in Hong Kong have largely shunned IPOs since the start of the year.
China’s A share market – a tough nut to crack
HONG KONG (Dow Jones Investment Banker) – The Royal Bank of Scotland’s and Citi’s announcements this week that they had joined the rather exclusive list of foreign banks trying to crack the booming market for underwriting in China merely points up the limited inroads made so far by most of the would-be entrants. If anything, the advantage tends to run increasingly in favor of domestic Chinese underwriters.
Burberry’s Hong Kong listing doesn’t check
HONG KONG (Dow Jones Investment Banker) – Hardly a week passes without a new high-end brand announcing its intention to list in Hong Kong, and the financial pages there are fast reading like a luxury shopping mall directory. After Prada S.p.A., Samsonite, Coach Inc. and Jimmy Choo [since agreed to be sold to Austria’s Labelux], Burberry Group PLC, according to a Chinese media report, is said to be considering a quotation in Hong Kong to support its expansion in China. But such a move, which smacks of herd mentality, would not impact trading volumes or improve the valuation of the company.
Kazakhmys digs for Hong Kong investors
HONG KONG (Dow Jones Investment Banker) – Kazakhmys PLC, an LSE-listed natural resources group with its main assets in Kazakhstan, has filed to list in Hong Kong by the end of June. This is aimed at raising its profile in the region, which accounts for almost half of its revenue. With no new money to be raised and no shares to be sold, the deal itself will do little for investors but there may be action for bankers, including M&A and financing deals, down the line.
The double edge of Glencore’s cornerstones
The total number of shares subscribed for by cornerstone investors in Glencore’s IPO, which is targeting proceeds of about US$10 billion (excluding a 10% over-allotment option), is expected to represent approximately 31% of the global offer, assuming the overallotment option is not exercised. The US$3.1 billion tranche therefore represents one of the largest cornerstone books by value ever achieved for an IPO. But there are consequences to the practice, which could come back and haunt the issuer as well as other investors in the company. read
Golden horde of bankers seeks Mongolia’s riches
HONG KONG (Dow Jones Investment Banker) – Mongolia’s top 20 index is up more than 50% in local terms this year, but trading volumes remain diminutive. This could all change with the proposed listing of coal mining behemoth Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi (Erdenes TT), whose name means “five heads” in Mongolian. While lead banks have been appointed, their exact roles are said to remain fluid, and a gaggle of global houses is still competing to find its way into the offering, which will raise Mongolia’s profile on the international stage. Indeed, the fortunes of Mongolian IPOs will continue to rely heavily on international institutional investors.
EuroWeek article
“IPO: A Global Guide” featured in this week’s edition of EuroWeek magazine, in the “Big Picture” column written by Equity Editor Nick Jacob. The article is reproduced below. read