China Tower taps Alibaba, ICBC, Hillhouse as cornerstone investors in US$8.7 billion IPO
Listing date scheduled for August 8 in offering that will value the telecom towers operator at up to US$35 billion
China Tower, the world’s largest operator of transmission towers for mobile phone networks, aims to raise as much as HK$68.1 billion (US$8.7 billion) in its initial public offering in Hong Kong, the biggest such sale globally in nearly four years.
The state-owned enterprise plans to sell 43.114 billion shares in a price range of between HK$1.26 and HK$1.58 per share, according to a term sheet obtained by the South China Morning Post.
With 25 per cent of its enlarged capital on offer in the IPO, the company has a valuation of between HK$217.3 billion (US$28 billion) and HK$272.5 billion (US$35 billion).
The offering surpasses Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi’s fundraising amount to become the world’s largest offering since 2014, when e-commerce giant Alibaba Group raised US$25 billion in its listing. Xiaomi raised US$5.4 billion in its listing after pricing its IPO at the bottom end of the range, valuing the firm at about half of its initial target.
China Tower’s offer is also set to be the largest in Hong Kong since Glencore’s US$10 billion offering in 2011, according to data compiled by Dealogic. If the 15 per cent “greenshoe” or over-allotment option is exercised, the IPO size will increase further to between US$8 billion and US$10 billion.
“The [China Tower] IPO comes at a time when the capital market is volatile and has many uncertainties. But I think it’s the time for them to do it, as China’s 5G commercial roll-out timeline is imminent,” Frank Xu, a Hong Kong-based fund manager at Q Fund Management, said on Monday after China Tower’s investor presentation.