IPOs to Return
While most of the listings in Hong Kong have been from companies already traded in mainland China, the city is starting to see a return of firms selling shares for the first time. One of those is Zijin Gold, albeit with a slight delay courtesy of Super Typhoon Ragasa — it’s now due to start trading on Sept. 30.
These debuts are a good test of the market’s strength, given that investors are less familiar with them.
Shares of Chery Automobile Co. — China’s biggest car exporter — rose as much as 14% on their first day of trading on Sept. 25 before paring the gain to 3.8% at the close. Chery raised $1.2 billion in its IPO, the largest debut of its kind since Chinese electric-vehicle battery maker CALB Co.’s float three years ago.
“The real test will come next year — whether the market can achieve true price discovery and bridge the gap between buyers and sellers to get deals done,” said James Wang, head of ECM for Asia ex-Japan at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Artificial intelligence is all the rage, with several Chinese firms looking to go public, including MiniMax, one of the country’s so-called AI Dragons or Tigers, and OpenAI challenger Zhipu.
“Next year will be a bumper year for AI-related IPOs in Hong Kong,” Wang said, adding that robotics and renewable energy will also be busy sectors.
