Although Singapore-based Midas Holdings is seeking a secondary listing in Hong Kong, it said Hong Kong may ultimately become its primary listing. The company said in its prospectus that the listing authorities in the city might determine that Midas' primary listing was in Hong Kong if, among other things, most trading occurred on the Hong Kong bourse. 'There is no assurance that our secondary listing status will continue in future. In such an event, the waivers from strict compliance granted to our company on the basis of a secondary listing will be revoked,' the prospectus said. However, Patrick Chew Hwa Kwang, chief executive and co-founder of the company, which makes extruded aluminium alloy products, said Singapore would remain the group's primary listing for the foreseeable future. 'As our business and operations are principally located in China, we believe the Hong Kong listing will enhance Midas's profile in China and Hong Kong, thereby strengthening its long-term growth prospects,' he said. The Hong Kong listing would provide an additional channel to raise capital and gain access to a wider range of institutional and retail investors, Chew said. Midas, which has a market capitalisation of US$725 million, plans to offer 220 million shares on the Hong Kong main board at a maximum offer of HK$6.10 each, raising a maximum of HK$1.34 billion. Trading of Midas' Hong Kong shares start on October 6, with 90 per cent of the offer shares allocated to institutional investors. 'Market feedback is positive,' a market source said. In the first quarter, 96.7 per cent of Midas' revenue came from its aluminium business, of which 69.6 per cent served China's train market, the prospectus said. The company accounted for 66 per cent of the mainland market for extruded aluminium products in high-speed trains and metro train carriages. During the first quarter, Midas' revenue grew 47.5 per cent to S$46.05 million (HK$267.53 million), while basic earnings per share rose 2 per cent to S$1.03. 'Our order book is 1.5 billion yuan [HK$1.73 billion], which provides good visibility for our revenue and bottom line for the next two years,' said Midas chief financial officer Tan Kai Teck. The firm plans to boost annual production capacity from 20,000 tonnes at the end of last year to 50,000 tonnes at the end of this year, and from 300 tram cars to 1,000 tram cars over the same period, Chew said. 'China is currently undertaking the most aggressive expansion of railway infrastructure in history, with two trillion yuan to be spent from 2010 to 2012,' he said.
