China Resources Beverage Shares Rally in Boost for HK IPO Market – BNN Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Shares of soft-drink maker China Resources Beverage Holdings Co. jumped 15% in their trading debut Wednesday, adding to signs of an improving outlook for Hong Kong’s market.

The stock finished at HK$16.68 after an initial public offering that was priced at HK$14.50, the top of a marketed range, helping raise $649 million. The solid start came amid a broad rally in Hong Kong’s market, with the benchmark Hang Seng Index rising 1.3%.

IPO activity in Hong Kong has been picking up as Chinese companies step up share sales to raise cash, taking advantage of the market rebound sparked by Beijing’s stimulus measures since late September. A solid debut by China Resources Beverage may augur well for upcoming listings, including that of autonomous-driving technology firm Horizon Robotics Inc. Its shares will debut on Thursday after raising $696 million in an IPO priced at the top of the range.

“This is likely to bring good sentiment to the broader Hong Kong market,” said Arnold Tam, chief analyst at Futu Securities. Investors were able to easily digest the company’s business model and see it as one of the key players in the Chinese drinking-water industry, he added.

Before China Resources Beverage, listings in Hong Kong this year had seen an average first-day gain of 5.7%. New share sales have raised $8.7 billion in 2024, beating all of last year’s proceeds. The tally has been helped by appliance maker Midea Group Co.’s $4.6 billion share sale last month, the market’s largest listing in over three years.

China Resources Beverage raised about HK$5 billion ($649 million) in its IPO. The owner of the C’estbon bottled-water brand, valued now at a total of about HK$38 billion, will spend the proceeds on expanding production capacity as well as sales and marketing activities.

The funds may help the company in its battle with rivals amid slower Chinese consumption. Shares of peer Nongfu Spring Co. are down 33% in 2024.

“CR Beverage’s oversubscribed Hong Kong IPO is likely to further heat up the price war among China’s bottled-water makers as it gives the C’estbon water owner a war chest,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Ada Li wrote in a note.

The Hong Kong portion of the offering was more than 230 times oversubscribed amid strong orders from retail investors, who were allocated 40% of the shares. The international offering, which made up 60% of the total, was oversubscribed more than 20 times. Cornerstone investors including a unit of China Tourism Group and UBS Asset Management AG took about 48% of the offering.

Hong Kong’s benchmark equity index is up more than 20% since a September low as optimism returned to the market after China’s central bank announced a series of measures late last month, including an interest-rate cut and liquidity support for stocks.

“Overall IPO activity may pick up heading into 2025, as corporates that have held off on offerings take advantage of the improved sentiment driven by” monetary easing in China and globally, said Marvin Chen, a strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence.

The listing by China Resources Beverage comes during the busiest week for Asia-Pacific trading debuts in more than two years, with around 20 deals poised to raise more than $8 billion.

--With assistance from Abhishek Vishnoi.

(Updates with closing levels. Earlier versions were corrected to change year and subscription figures.)