Green Tea Group makes tepid debut in Hong Kong as traders gird for CATL’s IPO next week

Shares of the restaurant chain began trading at HK$7.19 per share, before plunging 7 per cent to an intraday low of HK$6.69

Reading Time:2 minutes

An undated photograph of the signage of Green Tea Group, a Hangzhou-based restaurant chain. Photo: handout

Published: 11:03am, 16 May 2025Updated: 7:47pm, 16 May 2025

Corrected [11:26am, 16 May, 2025]

[11:26am, 16 May, 2025]
Corrects number of shares sold and total proceeds raised in the second paragraph.

Green Tea Group had a tepid trading debut in Hong Kong on Friday, as traders sidestepped its small stock sale in anticipation of the world’s largest initial public offering (IPO) so far this year next week.

Shares of the Hangzhou-based restaurant chain fell to end their first trading day at HK$6.29, a decline of 12.5 per cent from the HK$7.19 offer price. The company raised HK$1.21 billion (US$154.7 million) by selling 168 million shares.

Of the four IPO debuts since April 28 in Hong Kong, Green Tea was the first to flop, breaking the city’s recent streak of frenzied first-day transactions led by Auntea Jenny’s 75 per cent debut last week and the 40 per cent jump when Mixue Group began trading in March.

Traders are looking forward to the trading debut on Tuesday of Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), the world’s largest maker of battery packs for electric vehicles. CATL’s US$5.3 billion stock offer, priced at HK$263 per share at the high end of its price range, is the world’s largest this year, and the biggest sale in Hong Kong in four years.

Auntea Jenny’s co-founder and chairman Shan Weijun (right) at the company’s listing ceremony on the Hong Kong stock exchange on May 8, 2025. Photo: Aileen Chuang

Fifteen companies raised HK$17.7 billion in Hong Kong in the first quarter of this year, helping the city claw its way to the third spot in the global ranking of IPO destinations, according to KPMG’s data.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x

Green Tea Group makes tepid debut in Hong Kong as traders gird for CATL’s IPO next week

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Shares of the restaurant chain began trading at HK$7.19 per share, before plunging 7 per cent to an intraday low of HK$6.69

Shares of the restaurant chain began trading at HK$7.19 per share, before plunging 7 per cent to an intraday low of HK$6.69