Investor sentiment in the local initial public offering market continues to be strong despite Ant Group's mega listing reportedly being delayed, and Chinese drugmaker Simcere Pharmaceutical yesterday opened its retail books for its Hong Kong IPO as the city shut down amid a storm, with an aim to raise up to HK$3.57 billion.
Mom-and-pop investors placed more than HK$11.9 billion in the public sales through margin financing on the first day, which is equivalent to an over-subscription more than 33 times of the retail tranche.
The drugmaker also attracted cornerstone investors, including high-profile private equity firms Hillhouse Capital, Lake Bleu Prim and OrbiMed Funds, which agreed to subscribe to US$190 million (HK$1.47 billion) worth of shares.
Now, it is issuing 261 million shares at an indicative price range of HK$12.1 to HK$13.7.
The minimum investment is HK$13,838 per board lot of 1,000 shares.
Due to Typhoon Nangka, however, Simcere has extended the IPO closing date to October 19 from October 16. The listing date is being rescheduled to October 27.
Simcere was taken private for about US$495 million by a consortium led by founder Jinsheng Ren from the New York Stock Exchange in 2013, six years after listing.
Of two other new listings, property management firm First Service Holdings and rail operator Canggang Railway have attracted retail funds of HK$1.6 billion and HK$43.7 million respectively in the first two days.
That means the retail portions of their offerings have been oversubscribed.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority sold more than HK$13 billion on a single day after the SAR's currency hit the strong end of its trading band.
The aggregate balance - the key gauge of cash in the banking system - will increase to HK$299.9 billion.
