The listing is a spin-off of the international unit of Hong Kong-listed Zijin Mining, one of China’s largest miners of gold and copper. The parent company will own 86.7 per cent of Zijin Gold after the IPO, or 85 per cent if an overallotment option is exercised to expand the offering by 15 per cent. Retail investors will have access to 10 per cent of Zijin Gold’s shares, with the rest allocated to international investors.
The price of gold has gained almost 40 per cent this year – it was US$3,682 per ounce on Friday – as global investors, including central banks, went on a buying spree seeking safe-haven investments amid trade uncertainty.
“The IPO of Zijin Gold comes as the gold price has kept breaking records and many Hong Kong-listed gold-related stocks have performed strongly this year,” said Kenny Ng Lai-yin, a strategist at Everbright Securities International. “The offering is expected to be popular among both international and local retail investors.”
The deal has attracted 29 cornerstone investors who subscribed to a combined HK$12.47 billion worth of shares. The figure represents about 50 per cent of the offering – the maximum under a new allotment rule introduced last month.
The four largest cornerstone investors, including Singapore wealth fund GIC and private equity firm Hillhouse, will each buy US$150 million worth of shares, while fund companies BlackRock and Schroders will invest US$120 million each, according to the prospectus.
