Monday, April 20, 2009

China Zhongwang plans 2009's largest IPO at $1.6B and investors are returning to Hong Kong market

China Zhongwang Holdings, Asia's biggest maker of aluminium extrusion products, began marketing on Monday for a Hong Kong IPO to raise as much as $1.58 billion in what would be the world's largest new listing so far this year.

The company, which generates a large share of its business from the transport sector, including railways, is a beneficiary of Beijing's 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) economic stimulus package, a big chunk of which is being spent on infrastructure.

The offering is the biggest test yet of investor appetite for new listings since the global meltdown in markets last year, and the fund-raising target is higher than the roughly $1 billion that the company and its bankers had previously considered.

Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng share index has fallen 30 per cent from its high, but in 2009 the Chinese stock markets are among the best performers in the world. Some residents of Hong Kong and Shanghai are getting back into the market, believing that the global economy has turned and that the best way to make up the losses is to invest even more.