Drinks maker China Resources Beverage is set to launch its Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) next week, aiming to raise up to $700 million, said two people with direct knowledge of the matter, in the city’s largest new share sale this year.
The company, which owns C’estbon branded purified drinking products in China, will start taking bids from investors for the offering as soon as Tuesday, the two people and another source said.
The sources declined to be named because the matter was confidential.
China Resources Beverage did not respond immediately to a request for comment outside Hong Kong business hours.
The beverage unit of state-owned conglomerate China Resources Holdings is aiming to raise between $600 million and $700 million in the IPO, said the two sources. It plans to price the IPO the week after next, one of them added.
Reuters reported last month that the company was aiming to launch the IPO to raise up to $1 billion in October.
The flotation will come amid a see-sawing in Hong Kong’s equity market following the Chinese government’s massive stimulus package aimed at reviving the mainland Chinese economy.
The deal would be the largest IPO in Hong Kong in 2024, surpassing tea drinks company Sichuan Baicha Baidao Industrial’s new share offering, in which the company raised $330 million in April.
Home appliance maker Midea raised nearly $4 billion earlier in September in Hong Kong, but the company is listed in Shenzhen which meant the listing was not considered an IPO.
There has been $2.73 billion worth of IPOs in Hong Kong so far this year, according to LSEG data, compared to $3.3 billion at the same time last year.
Bank of America, BOC International, CITIC Securities, and UBS are the sponsors of China Resources Beverage’s IPO.
Reuters
