JD Logistics in demand as SF REIT dives 16pc

Victor Zhong and Reuters

SF Real Estate Investment Trust (2191) had a disappointing market debut yesterday but that failed to dampen investor enthusiasm for JD Logistics' initial public offering.

SF REIT closed 16.47 percent lower at HK$4.16 yesterday, suggesting investors saw a loss of HK$820 for a board lot of 1,000 shares, excluding the handling fee.

Chairman Wang Wei, who also chairs mainland logistic giant SF Express, said more good assets in the mainland and overseas are expected to be injected into SF REIT in the future.

Meanwhile, JD Logistics attracted at least HK$112.76 billion from retail investors via margin financing on the opening day of its IPO, meaning the retail portion was 141 times oversubscribed.

The minimum investment is HK$4,379.70.

The logistics offshoot of JD.com (9618) will price its shares between HK$39.36 and HK$43.36 each as the company aims to raise up to US$3.4 billion (HK$26.52 billion), according to the company's filings, in one of Hong Kong's largest share sales in 2021.

JD Logistics said 55 percent of the funds raised would be spent on upgrading its logistics network in the next 12 to 36 months, while a further 20 percent would go towards technology development.

Separately, the contract research organization (CRO) Novotech Health submitted a listing application in Hong Kong with a target valuation of over US$4 billion (HK$31.2 billion).

The company expects to raise around US$15 billion in the share sale.