Blue Moon prices stock offer at top-end as Hillhouse-invested detergent producer raises US$1.27 billion in Hong Kong

The Guangzhou-based firm attracts strong demand for its 747.1 million shares on offer, helping deal to price at top-end

Investors demand for Chinese consumer-related issuers will continue to be strong going into 2021, some bankers say

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Detergent maker Blue Moon Group. Photo: Handout

Published: 5:28pm, 9 Dec 2020Updated: 5:28pm, 9 Dec 2020

Blue Moon Group, the detergent maker backed by Asian private equity manager Hillhouse Capital, has priced its Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) at the top end of a price range, enabling it to raise US$1.27 billion (HK$9.38 billion) amid strong investors’ demand.

The offer price was set at HK$13.16 per share, according to a person familiar with the transaction, at the top-end of the range with a floor at HK$10.2. The completion of Blue Moon’s IPO will increase the number of IPOs aiming to debut before Christmas to 16 from 12 last month, making December one of the busiest months for Hong Kong’s capital market in the final quarter.

As many as 132 companies raised a combined US$47 billion this year in Hong Kong, a 10-year high, according to Refinitiv’s data. The strong investors’ demand for Blue Moon came after the trailblazing US$1.1 billion IPO of Chinese beverage maker Nongfu Spring in September, whose retail tranche was overbought 1,147 times, making it the city’s most overbought IPO this year.

IPOs of China’s consumer sector attract strong demand in 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/WU HONG

Bankers said the robust demand for consumer-related Chinese issuers seen this year is likely to continue into 2021, as investors bet their money in the only major economy in the world that will continue to report growth this year, even as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to ravage.

The Guangzhou-based Blue Moon, which puts 747.1 million shares on offer, has granted underwriters an overallotment option to sell up to 112.1 million more shares to meet strong investors’ demand, according to its prospectus filed to the exchange.