Shenguan ended up nearly 40 per cent, or in absolute dollar terms, HK$2,460, for a minimum board lot of 2,000 shares worth HK$6,200. That was much better than the return of HK$1,800 on a minimum board lot of Beijing cement maker BBMG Corp shares and HK$1,300 for shampoo maker Bawang International (Group) Holding.

Shenguan, which makes sausage casings, came to the market at a time when investors had been frowning at a spate of initial public offerings.

As a result, there were only 1,904 retail applicants, with the deal being subscribed only 3.3 times, one of the lowest over-subscription rates this year.

Next in line today is Powerlong Real Estate Holdings. The Fujian-based firm ended up pricing its issue 16 per cent below the initial target and delaying its original listing date from last Friday.

Powerlong was subscribed just 0.28 times with 2,145 applicants, fewer than the 2,400 potential punters who failed to confirm their subscriptions.

But don't count it out yet. Didn't Shenguan just prove a new offering theory - the smaller the demand, the better the first-day performance?

Poor timing for directors

There were some Shenguan shareholders who might not have been so happy yesterday - three of its executive directors, for a start.

According to a statement from the firm last night, Cai Xueqing, Shi Guicheng and Ru Xiquan were granted a million stock options, based on yesterday's closing price of HK$4.33. Another three million options were granted to other individuals who are not directors.

We bet they wish the options had been granted before the company made its debut.

Macquarie loses some

October is proving something of a 'win some, lose some' month for Macquarie.

As sponsor of Shenguan yesterday and the underdog Ausnutria Dairy Corp last week, the Australian bank must be pleased that both shares performed better than expected.

It also took over the local office of boutique investment bank Fox Pitt Kelton this month and we heard that half of the analysts had already left.

'Blame it on the culture difference' is a common phrase to explain such departures - a similar exodus happened on the equity desk of Cazenove Asia after being bought out by Standard Chartered last November.

But this time we gather a number of Fox Pitt Kelton staff may have jumped first, having been approached by headhunters.

Unlike last October when nobody was hiring, the headhunters have been kept busy recently by outfits such as Korea's Samsung Securities and Mirae Asset Management in yet another sign of a rebound in the region's financial sector.

Li fails to inspire

It's a bit of a chicken-and-egg question, but why doesn't Cheung Kong (Holdings) outperform when its chairman raises his stake in the company?

Last Friday, Li Ka-shing acquired 410,000 shares at HK$98.10 each for HK$40.22 million.

It was his ninth purchase in the past month.

Since September 15, Li (left) has bought almost 4.3 million shares of his flagship company for a total of more than HK$430 million.

Cheung Kong closed up 0.93 per cent yesterday at HK$98.15.

The counter has been trading within the HK$90 to HK$100 range for much of the summer, which also meant the stock does not seem to have been reacting to the optimism of its chairman, who up to now has enjoyed a good track record for his post-buying performance.

Although Cheung Kong is up 33 per cent year to date, it trails its peer Sun Hung Kai Properties, which has climbed 79 per cent, and the Hang Seng Index, which has risen 49 per cent.

The underperformance comes even after Li, when asked for investment tips at his companies' post-results press conferences, has taken the opportunity to remind his followers that Cheung Kong and associate Hutchison Whampoa are good investments.

Well, back to the answer to our original question: if Cheung Kong was not a laggard, we suppose Li would not be practising what he preached.