ill-fated october may be lying in wait for China Netcom's forthcoming ipo
Mainland telecommunications stocks give investors the willies, especially when they are listed in October.
China Mobile's debut began the great mainland telecoms parade through Hong Kong on October 23, 1997 - the day the Hang Seng Index plunged 1,211 points - its biggest one day loss.
Fixed-line giant China Telecom tried to become the world's largest initial public offering in late October 2002, but the deal flopped miserably. The offering was resuscitated two weeks later but had shrunk 60 per cent to US$1.39 billion.
For this reason, some of Lai See's more superstitious acquaintances are nervously eyeing China Netcom, which should get clearance for its US$1.5 billion IPO on Thursday.
Expectations are for the deal to be downsized from earlier ambitions. Limp investor interest has seen mega offerings by the likes of Hutchison Telecommunications International (HTIL) and China Power slashed by up to 30 per cent. In Singapore, Starhub was recently forced to trim its pricing to the low end of its range.