Trading under code 3288, Haitian’s shares first changed hands on Thursday at HK$37.50, up 3.3 per cent from their offer price of HK$36.30 – the top of their marketed range – as the Hang Seng Index fell 0.4 per cent.
The company sold 279 million shares, including 15.8 million shares – or 6 per cent of the original offering – it exercised under an overallotment option to meet investors’ demand.
The retail and international tranches were oversubscribed by around 917 and 22 times respectively, according to a stock exchange filing on Wednesday. The strong demand among retail investors led Haitian to increase its allocation to 19.8 per cent of the total offer shares, up from the initial 6 per cent. Global funds received the remaining 80.2 per cent, according to the filing.
Retail investors applied for more than HK$400 billion in margin loans from brokerages to vie for Haitian shares, or about 700 times the value of the stock originally allocated to them in the public tranche, according to the data compiled by Futu Securities.
“After the Hong Kong stock listing, we will continue to reward investors with the company’s development and contribute to the prosperity of the Hong Kong market,” Haitian’s chairwoman Cheng Xue said before striking the ceremonial gong to mark the commencement of trading. “Haitian will maintain its focus, deepen its presence in the Chinese market, adhere to our long-term [strategy] of going global to serve our global customers.”
