Mainland chipmaker fails to agree on a final IPO price with Citigroup amid weakening sentiment
Chipmaker CSMC Technologies Corp has called off a Hong Kong share offering of up to $683.1 million - the first mainland company to ditch listing plans in 15 months amid weakening demand from investors.
The U-turn sends a fresh blow to stock sales by mainland companies struggling to attract interest in a volatile market.
CSMC said it cancelled the share sale after failing to agree with investment bank Citigroup on the final offer price. The semiconductor manufacturer's public offering closed on Friday.
Market sources doubted that CSMC would have drawn enough orders to fill its book, even at the lower end of the offer price range.
CSMC offered to sell 621 million new shares at between 73 cents and $1.10 each, valuing the low-end chipmaker at between 20.88 and 31.46 times its prospective earnings this year of $11.22 million. This compares to most of its Taiwanese counterparts' earnings multiple of about 15.
