Midea seeks to raise US$3.46 billion on HKEX as blockbuster IPOs tiptoe back to Hong Kong

The jumbo IPO would be the city’s biggest new-share offering since JD Logistics raised the equivalent of US$3.64 billion in May 2021

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A Midea Group microwave oven factory in Foshan in 2021. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 10:18am, 9 Sep 2024Updated: 5:02pm, 9 Sep 2024

Midea Group, the world’s largest maker of home appliances, is seeking to raise up to HK$26.97 billion (US$3.46 billion) with a jumbo Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), which would be one of the city’s biggest new-share sales in more than three years.

Midea is offering 492.14 million new shares at HK$52 to HK$54.80 each, according to a company filing with Hong Kong’s stock exchange on Monday. It may increase the size of the IPO by 73.8 million shares to meet excess demand if necessary.

The company will take orders from investors until Thursday, and the final IPO price is expected to be decided on September 13, it added. Based on the price range, Midea would have a market capitalisation between HK$389.2 billion and HK$410.2 billion, according to the filing.

A low-end pricing would yield HK$25.6 billion and mark a 25 per cent discount to the price of its A-shares on Friday on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. At the top end, the IPO would surpass Baidu’s US$3.08 billion IPO in March 2021 and fall just short of JD Logistics’ US$3.64 billion deal in May 2021, according to data compiled by the London Stock Exchange Group.

Midea headquarters in Beijiao town, Shunde District in Foshan, Guangdong province. Photo: Handout

The Midea IPO has attracted 18 cornerstone investors who would purchase US$1.26 billion worth of shares if the shares are priced at the midpoint of the range, a third of the total offering, according to a prospectus. They include Cosco Shipping Holdings (Hong Kong), UBS Asset Management (Singapore), China Structural Reform Fund II, and a BYD unit called Golden Link.