Hong Kong IPOs Pick Up the Pace as China Restarts

(Bloomberg) -- Initial public offerings are picking up the pace in Hong Kong after two wildly successful biotech listings improved sentiment in the financial hub.

Two sizeable IPOs from Chinese firms are due to price at the end of this week: Biotech company Peijia Medical Ltd. is looking to raise $302 million, while property-management firm Central China New Life Ltd. could raise as much as $279 million. The city hasn't had a week with IPOs worth more than $500 million in total since early January, when a flurry of them went through.

Companies largely stayed on the sidelines in recent months as the market turmoil caused by the coronavirus pandemic made IPOs unappealing, while bankers and investors adjusted to widespread travel restrictions. Even though the city's benchmark Hang Seng Index has rebounded somewhat from its March low, firms have raised only $2.27 billion through first-time share sales since January, just over half of the amount in the same period last year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

But the listings of biotech companies InnoCare Pharma Ltd. and Akeso Inc. have shown the market is still open, especially for the health-care sector -- both IPOs were heavily oversubscribed, priced at the top of their range and have since risen more than 50% from their offer price. They also provided a blueprint of sorts for executing deals in choppy markets, for example having a long roster of cornerstone investors. Peijia Medical clearly took note, unveiling a list of 14 such investors, more than either InnoCare or Akeso.

Meanwhile, cloud-computing company Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Ltd. is in the midst of a virtual roadshow for what could be New York's biggest offering by a Chinese company since July, and the first to face investors after an alleged accounting scandal at Luckin Coffee Inc. A successful IPO would be a positive sign for other companies from the nation looking to go public in the U.S.

UPCOMING LISTINGS:

Central China New Life Ltd.
- Hong Kong stock exchange
- Size up to $279m
- Expected pricing May 8, trading May 15
- BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley
Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Ltd.
- Nasdaq exchange
- Size up to $450m
- Expected pricing May 7, trading May 8
- JPMorgan, UBS, Credit Suisse, CICC
- Peijia Medical Technology Co.
  - Hong Kong stock exchange
  - Size up to $302m
  - Expected pricing May 8, trading May 15
  - Morgan Stanley, Huatai
  - Kintor Pharmaceutical Ltd.
    - Hong Kong stock exchange
    - Size up to $300m
    - Pre-marketing from April 27
    - Huatai, UBS
    - Ebang International Holdings Inc.
      - New York
      - Size $100m
      - Filed April 25
      - AMTD, Loop Capital Markets