Games firm up 50pc in gray

Six companies start trading today, of which Archosaur Games (9990), a mainland game developer backed by Tencent (0700), saw its share prices rise around 50 percent in the gray market last night.

Archosaur Games is also the most subscribed stock among the six debutants, with its retail portion oversubscribed 122 times. It raised HK$2.04 billion after pricing its initial public offering at HK$11.6 per share, the top of the indicative price range. And for investors who were allotted Archosaur's shares, a 50 percent growth in share price means they could have a paper gain of HK$5,800 per board lot of 1,000 shares.

Archosaur Game's predecessor, Archosaur Studio, had been merged under Shenzhen-listed Perfect World Group in 2004 before it was split six years ago.

Meanwhile, shares of Ganglong China Property (6968), a Shanghai-based developer, dropped more than 3 percent in gray markets last night. The retail tranche of Ganglong China was only covered by 28 percent. It raised HK$1.47 billion after pricing its floatation at HK$3.93, higher than the midpoint of the marketed range.

Ganglong's gearing ratio, or debt-to-equity ratio, surged to 251.2 percent as of April 30, due to an increase in bank and other borrowings to finance operations.

In addition, China New Energy (1156), a mainland ethanol production system producer, rose 28.6 percent in the Bright Smart gray market last night, while it ended flat at HK$0.98 in Phillip Securities' platform.

Mainland production company Cathay Media (1981), which attracted PCCW (0008) chairman Richard Li Tzar-kai as a cornerstone investor, saw its price rise more than 30 percent in gray markets.

Sino-Entertainment Technology (6933), a mobile game publisher, rose more than 6 percent, while Dashan Education (9986) slid more than 1 percent ahead of debut.