iPhone screen maker, Li Ning-backed blank-cheque company file for Hong Kong IPOs, betting on rebound in demand for new listings

A blank cheque company backed by gymnast-turned-sportswear entrepreneur Li Ning has filed for a Hong Kong listing

Apple supplier Biel Crystal has refiled its Hong Kong listing application after first attempt lapsed last year

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Biel Crystal is the world’s largest maker of smartphone screens, counting Apple’s iPhone as one of its biggest customers. Photo: CWH

Published: 4:00pm, 4 Feb 2022Updated: 4:11pm, 4 Feb 2022

Biel Crystal, the world’s largest maker of smartphone screens, is among a host of companies betting that demand for initial public offerings will improve after a dismal January that saw just a handful of deals.

The glassmaker that counts Apple among its customers is one of several firms that applied for a Hong Kong listing just before the Lunar New Year holiday.

It submitted a second IPO filing after its earlier application last summer had lapsed. Back then, Biel’s founder Yeung Kin-man said the company was targeting around US$2 billion.

Meanwhile, Trinity Acquisition Holdings, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) co-sponsored by Li Ning, a former Chinese Olympic gymnast and chairman of his eponymous sportswear company – which already trades on the Hong Kong bourse – filed for a share sale earlier this week.

These new filings came after investors’ appetite for IPOs globally was tempered by paltry stock market performances in January. The Hang Seng Index gained just 1.7 per cent last month. In the US, the Nasdaq Composite had its worst month in two years as the tech-heavy index lost 9.5 per cent.

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