New | Sinopharm to raise HK$5.5b by issuing 198.8m new shares
Sinopharm, the mainland’s largest drug distributor, plans to raise HK$5.55 billion by issuing 198.8 million new shares to a handful of investors, according an announcement with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday.
The company will issue the new shares at HK$28.4, or a 7.5 per cent discount to its closing price on November 21. The new shares represent about 20 per cent of the entire H shares of the company.
The proceeds will be used to expand its pharmaceutical distribution and retail network, it said in a statement, adding that the newly raised capital represents “an opportunity to raise capital for the company while broadening the shareholder base,”
Sinopharm’s enhanced efforts to improve integration and efficiency have finally taken effect, leading to a profit beat in the first half of 2014, Jefferies said in a research note.
The company’s fund-raising move came after its stock price slightly retreated from its 52-week high of HK$34.5 in mid-November.
CICC, Morgan Stanley, UBS are the managers handling the share placement.
