A Shanghai-based milk tea chain Auntea Jenny has applied to list in Hong Kong yesterday, joining peers such as Mixue Bingcheng in seeking first-time sales in the city.

As of September, Auntea Jenny operated a total of 7,297 shops across the mainland, according to its preliminary prospectus. Its gross merchandise value surged 57.7 percent to 7.18 billion yuan (HK$7.85 billion) in the nine months ended September, the prospectus showed.

This came as bubble tea makers such as Mixue Bingcheng, Guming and Sichuan Baicha Baidao, the company behind the fruit and milk tea brand Cha Panda, have all submitted applications for initial public offerings here.

Last year, Chinese regulators reportedly issued guidelines discouraging certain types of companies from listing in the domestic A-share market, with food and beverage chains said to be among such companies.

Mainland food and beverage companies are also accelerating their pace of expansion in Hong Kong.

Mixue, the biggest ice cream and tea chain in China by selling products as cheap as three yuan, opened its first shop in the city in December. Tai Er, a restaurant brand focusing on sour-spicy fish, also known as suan cai fish, opened four stores in Hong Kong during the same month.

Elsewhere, Sony Group said it will list its financial arm in October 2025, preparing for a major capital infusion after the media conglomerate cut the forecast for its core gaming division.

The company revealed plans for the partial sale after reporting earnings and revising its forecasts for the fiscal year through March. The move to take Sony's financial group public will reverse a US$3.7 billion (HK$28.86 billion) take-private deal concluded in 2020.

Sony trimmed its revenue forecast after sales of its PlayStation 5 in the fourth quarter came in a million lower than average analyst estimates of 8.2 million consoles. It now expects to sell 21 million units for the fiscal year, down from 25 million.

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