Inner Mongolia Yitai Coal (which is quite a bit of a mouthful) has started investor education for its IPO of up to US$1.5 billion equivalent in Hong Kong.
If successful, it would become the first B-share entity to list in Hong Kong.
What are B shares? They are mainland-listed stocks denominated in US or Hong Kong dollars. The idea was to draw foreign investors to the mainland market. But the experiment failed. Instead, investors now come to Hong Kong to trade China equities. It is a much larger, more liquid market, which is exactly why Yitai Coal wants to list here.
Indeed, so keen might it be to get a listing in a liquid market that it is venturing into the worst IPO environment seen here since 2008.
The firm listed in Shanghai in 1997. Authorities in China halted fund-raisings for B-share companies in 2004 as part of an effort to close that market.
But despite being lumbered with a lousy listing, Yitai Coal has thrived. It has blossomed into a large and profitable venture.