Li Ka-shing's conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa could raise as much as $8.81 billion in a spin-off of its second-generation mobile phone business unit in Hong Kong and New York next month. But the listing, though one of the largest the market has seen from a Hong Kong-based company for some time, is short of the company's original target amid dampened enthusiasm from fund managers. Hong Kong investors will be able to buy up to $881 million worth of shares in Hutchison Telecommunications International (HTIL), with a listing scheduled for October 15. A total of 1.155 billion existing shares, or 25 per cent, of HTIL will be sold, with shares priced at between $6.59 and $7.63 each. The Hong Kong public offer, consisting of 115.5 million shares, will be open for subscription by retail investors from September 30 to October 6. Roadshows for the international institutional tranche, representing 90 per cent of the shares on offer, will begin in Hong Kong today. Listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange is set for October 15; trading of the shares in New York is set to begin on October 14. Hutchison has bundled its 2G assets in seven countries as well as its Hong Kong 3G and fixed-line businesses into HTIL. The share offer values HTIL at US$3.8 billion to $4.4 billion, short of an earlier target of $5.9 billion before unenthusiastic responses from fund managers forced Hutchison to reconsider the valuation and size of the offering. Should the initial public offering be priced at the top end of expectations, it would value HTIL at a 71.6 per cent premium. This represents a cost to Hutchison of carrying the firm at HK$19 billion to $20 billion, as revealed by a Deutsche Bank report last Friday.
