Italian Yachtmaker Ferretti Ends Lower in Hong Kong Stock Debut

(Bloomberg) -- Ferretti SpA, the Italian luxury yacht builder whose backers include the Ferrari family, dropped in its Hong Kong stock-market debut after pricing shares near the bottom of a marketed range.

The stock closed at HK$22.85 on Thursday, down 0.1% from the listing price, after advancing as much as 3.8% early in the session. The firm's initial public offering raised about HK$1.91 billion ($244 million), the largest in Hong Kong in more than a month.

Ferretti's debut comes on the last day of a dismal quarter for IPOs in the Asian financial hub, which has seen big deals vanish amid concerns ranging from surging volatility, rising interest rates and the war in Ukraine. Most of the 12 firms that listed since January are trading below the listing price.

READ: Hong Kong's IPO Drought Shown in Worst Quarter of Pandemic Era

Ferretti had previously targeted a market value of as much as 1.08 billion euros ($1.2 billion) in its attempt three years ago to list in its home country. The firm cited weak markets as the reason for withdrawing that listing.

The company decided to list in Hong Kong “because we believe there is future and there is growth in Asia Pacific,” said Alberto Galassi, Ferreti's chief executive officer, in an interview to Bloomberg Television.

Hong Kong “is an international market, it is big, by far bigger than Milan. And there is an extraordinary growth of APAC wealth and demand,” he said.

Five cornerstone investors in the Hong Kong IPO snapped up about half of the shares offered. Chinese giant Shandong Heavy Industry Group Co. and its affiliates own a controlling stake in Ferretti, according to a prospectus.

Two other firms that also debuted in Hong Kong on Thursday -- Jiangsu Recbio Technology Co. and Redco Healthy Living Co. -- finished above the listing price.

China International Capital Corp. is the sole sponsor of Ferretti's IPO.