The frenzy for mainland initial public offerings has seen Dalian Port soak up $151.2 billion in retail subscription funds and the bookrunners are still counting. Sources said yesterday the retail tranche of the $2.16 billion offering, which closed at noon yesterday, was at least 700 times covered. The amount outstrips some big-name offerings of last year, including the Link Reit, which drew $107.1 billion in November and China Construction Bank Corp's $130.7 billion in October. Sources said once all the orders were counted, Dalian Port's retail tranche could be 900 times covered, locking up $194.4 billion and surpassing the $176.91 billion pulled in by Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings), the hottest offering of the year so far. The port firm is offering 840 million shares at $2.175 to $2.575 each for a price-earnings ratio of 15.09 to 17.87 times. Owing to the response, brokers expect the stock to be priced at the top of the range. With the retail tranche being more than 100 times subscribed, the clawback mechanism has been triggered, requiring the firm to allocate 50 per cent of the offer to retail investors, up from 10 per cent. Strategic investors Nippon Yusen Kaisha, China Shipping Terminal Development, Singapore's PSA International and Hutchison Whampoa have snapped up 33.6 per cent of the shares. Dalian Port will begin trading on Friday. BNP Paribas and UBS are the bookrunners. Meanwhile, sources said the retail tranche of Shanghai Prime Machinery was 488 times covered, soaking up $61.5 billion. Demand has also been strong from institutional investors, with the international offering 96 times oversubscribed. Shanghai Prime has priced the shares at the top of the range at $2.10 to raise $1.26 billion. The stock will begin trading on Thursday. Also courting investors' dollars is DBA Telecommunication, which makes public telephones and telephone booths on the mainland. The company is offering 250 million shares at between $1 and $1.28 to raise up to $320 million. The retail offer will be launched on Wednesday. Sun Hung Kai International is the sponsor.
