CK Hutchison (0001) has delayed the dual listing plan of its health and beauty retail chain AS Watson in Hong Kong and London to 2027 mainly due to China’s regulatory procedures, with an expected valuation of about US$30 billion (HK$234 billion), the Financial Times reported on Monday.
The listing application has got the green light from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, while it's still waiting for approval from China's cybersecurity watchdog, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
CK Hutchison is seeking to raise about US$2 billion in its original share sale plan of AS Watson, in which shareholder Singapore's Temasek would also offload parts of its stake, according to the report.
Earlier in July, the Hong Kong-based conglomerate said no decision has been made on an IPO of AS Watson or its timing.
This came as a cooldown in the European and American IPO markets. Petrol station empire EG Group, nuclear services company Holtec, and data centre developer SB Energy all suspended their planned US IPOs in recent weeks, while Bamboo Insurance, British book retailer Waterstones, and online travel agent Loveholidays delayed their London listing plans.
As two artificial intelligence giants, Anthropic and OpenAI, postponed their listing plans to mid-November and next year, respectively, this also dampened overall market sentiment, the Financial Times said in the report.
