Slowest May for Hong Kong IPOs in a decade

Only one company sold shares for the first time in Hong Kong this month, with proceeds raised marking the lowest for IPOs in May in 10 years. 

A Chinese company that offers diagnostic services including Covid-19 tests was the only firm executing an initial public offering during the month in the Asian financial hub -- Yunkang Group Ltd.’s deal raised US$139 million about two weeks ago. The amount is less than 10 percent of the proceeds garnered by companies in mainland China and about 3 percent of the tally in India. 

To be sure, the IPO market globally has been hurt by factors ranging from high volatility in equities trading since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rising inflation and hawkish central banks. Still, as sharp swings subside, activity is trickling back to Hong Kong’s exchange. 

Vision Deal HK Acquisition Corp., a blank-check firm, is taking orders until Thursday in an offering set to raise US$128 million. TI Cloud Inc., a Chinese cloud-native customer solutions provider, is planning to open books as soon as next week for an IPO that could raise about US$100 million. Growatt, a Chinese smart energy solutions company, could raise up to US$500 million in an offering that could happen as soon as this year. 

(Bloomberg)