Haitong Raises $1.7 Billion in Hong Kong Share Sale
April 20th, 2012 by admin

 

The Chinese brokerage firm Haitong Securities has raised $1.7 billion through the sale of shares in Hong Kong, the largest public offering in the world so far this year, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The firm, which already is publicly traded in Shanghai, sold approximately 1.23 billion shares at 10.60 Hong Kong dollars, or $1.37, each, according to the term sheet obtained by DealBook on Friday.

The pricing of Haitong’s Hong Kong sale represents a 16.6 percent discount to the firm’s closing share price in Shanghai on Friday. It also was at the bottom end of firm’s price range of 10.60 Hong Kong dollars to 11.18 Hong Kong dollars.

The company’s stock will start trading in Hong Kong next Friday. The firm is expected to use the money to expand its brokerage business in China.

Haitong’s listing comes at a difficult time for the broader Chinese economy, whose growth slowed to 8.1 percent in the first three months of the year. It was the fifth-consecutive slowdown in the country’s quarterly growth, as fears mount that the Chinese economy will not be able to maintain its rapid expansion.

Other companies to raise money in the public markets in 2012 include the Dutch cable operator Ziggo and the Swiss trade and marketing company DKSH, which raised a combined $2 billion dollars earlier this year.

Allison Transmissions, a commercial vehicle transmission maker based in Indianapolis also raised $690 million in March.

Haitong and JPMorgan Chase were the joint underwriters of the offering. The firms, along with Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and UBS, also were global coordinators for the listing.