Firms receive HK$9.5b in orders as Kingboard Laminates and Zhaojin Mining begin the year's final batch of share offerings
The final wave of more than a dozen initial public offerings before the end of the year started with a bang yesterday, with overwhelming margin orders for Zhaojin Mining Industry and Kingboard Laminates Holdings during their first day open to retail subscriptions, securities brokers said.
Four leading securities brokerages - KGI (Asia), Sun Hung Kai Securities, Prudential Brokerage and Phillip Securities - have received about HK$9.5 billion worth of margin orders overall for the two share offerings.
'The responses are so hot that we've used up our margin lending quota of HK$7 billion,' said Cherrie Yan, a corporate finance officer at Phillip Securities. 'We've had to stop accepting orders earlier than scheduled.'
Shandong-based Zhaojin, the second-largest mainland-listed gold producer, plans to raise up to HK$2.19 billion selling 172.8 million shares in Hong Kong to fund expansion and acquisitions. Its offering will be open until November 29.
The shares, which are being offered at HK$9.80 to HK$12.68 each, or 26 to 33 times forecast earnings for this year, will be priced on December 2 and trading will begin on December 8.
