Asia’s stock markets are preparing for their busiest week of new listings in over two years. Around 20 companies from the Asia-Pacific region are listing shares through Friday. They could raise up to US$8.3 billion.
This would make it the most active week since April 2022. The lineup includes deals from China, India, and Japan. It reflects a broad revival across the region.
Matthew Emsley is a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills in Hong Kong. He specializes in initial public offerings (IPOs). Emsley said, “There is a level of animal spirits returning to the Asia market.
There is an increased level of activity and urgency to take advantage of that positivity.”
Bankers will closely watch how these newly listed shares perform. They are planning many equity offerings in Asia over the next few weeks. Companies and major shareholders want to close deals before the November 5 election in the US.
China Resources Beverage Holdings and Horizon Robotics will start trading in Hong Kong this week. The bottled-water maker and autonomous-driving technology firm could raise more than US$1.3 billion together. Their success could signal a broader revival of Chinese IPOs in Hong Kong.
Asia’s busiest IPO week ahead
Cathy Zhang is the head of Asia equity capital markets at Morgan Stanley. She said, “We are likely witnessing the initial stage of a recovery in the Hong Kong and China capital markets.
We need more larger, high-quality companies to list in Hong Kong and continue to perform well to ensure that this trend is sustainable.”
In India, Hyundai Motor India’s US$3.3 billion listing is the country’s biggest-ever IPO. It is set to debut on Tuesday. The deal was oversubscribed more than two times on the last day of sale.
However, it drew poor interest from smaller investors. Japan also has some big deals lined up. Tokyo Metro’s US$2.3 billion listing is scheduled for Oct.
23. It will be the country’s biggest IPO since 2018. Japanese X-ray technology company Rigaku Holdings will cap the week.
It closed a roughly US$750 million deal. The company’s shares will start trading on Friday. Not all potential issuers are moving forward with their listing plans though.
Korean online lender K Bank withdrew its roughly US$700 million IPO. It failed to generate enough demand.
