NewChinese retailer La Chapelle to issue A shares after Hong Kong IPO last year

Mainland Chinese retailer Shanghai La Chapelle Fashion Co, backed by Hong Kong jeweller Chow Tai Fook, announced on Monday plans to float 54.77 million A shares to fund a 1.64 billion yuan (HK$2.05 billion) expansion plan.

The A-share listing, including 27.4 million existing shares, will be no less than 10 per cent of its enlarged share capital. The Shanghai-based apparel maker raised almost HK$2 billion last September in an initial public offering in Hong Kong.

But the company said its retail network, consumer base, business partners, the management and technological teams are all based on the mainland and there is room for the development of mass-market casual wear in China.

“Therefore, the dual listing of the company’s shares will help create more options to allow the company to provide employee incentives and to conduct mergers and acquisitions and restructuring through share-based payment,” it said in a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The plan still needs approvals from shareholders and regulators. Mainland China has recently suspended all initial public offerings as part of its efforts to rein in a stock market crash.