Foxconn unit soars by maximum 44pc in Shanghai trading debut, giving it a US$61b value
Company which raised US$4.26b in mainland China’s largest IPO since 2015 last week, is now the most valuable tech company listed in Shanghai or Shenzhen
Foxconn Industrial Internet shares soared in value by the daily maximum 44 per cent allowed on its debut in Shanghai on Friday, making the company worth 390 billion yuan (US$61 billion).
The subsidiary of the world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer, Foxconn Technology – whose products include Apple’s iPhones – raised 27.1 billion yuan (US$4.26 billion) in what was the mainland China’s biggest initial public offering (IPO) in almost three years last week.
It makes industrial robots, cloud computing equipment, and other advanced hardware.
The 1.8 billion IPO shares were priced at 13.77 yuan apiece, with the online subscription portion 294 times oversubscribed. The shares rose to 19.83 yuan in early trading.
In China, IPOs are allowed to rise by a maximum of 44 per cent on their first-day’s trade. Analysts said the regulation almost guarantees a “sure-win” ticket for investors.
The gains come as the industry has long respected a 23-times maximum price-to-earnings ratio rule on IPO pricings that stems from a China Securities Regulatory Commission guidance issued in 2014.
Once investors have their new share allotment they can then profit by selling their holdings within the first few days, weeks or months of the debut.
All IPOs in 2017, and 53 in the first five months of this year have ended with price gains of 43-44 per cent on their first day of trading, according to Bloomberg data. But all but two of those 432 were trading below their offer price, six months after their debuts.
Enthusiasm for Chinese unicorns remain especially strong, however.
Foxconn Industrial Internet’s 390 billion yuan market cap lifts it above Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, making it instantly the highest value technology company on the mainland’s A-share market.
New A shares have also hit their 10 per cent daily trading limit on an average 7.5 times after their IPO listings. If Foxconn hit that permissible daily rise seven times, its market value would hit 691 billion yuan, more than China Life Insurance, and result in a profit of over 2 trillion yuan for shareholders, analysts said.
Foxconn chairman Terry Gou has made numerous public appearances recently, expressing high hopes for the firm’s A-share listing.
In recent years, Foxconn has invested heavily in industrial interconnection and robotics to underline the upgrading of its manufacturing technology.
