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China Tourism Group Duty Free is telling prospective investors it plans to price its Hong Kong share sale in the upper half of its marketed range, according the people familiar with the matter, in what could be this year’s biggest listing in the city.
The final price was towards the upper end of the HK$143.50 to HK$165.50 range flagged when the deal was launched last Friday.
The Shanghai-traded company is offering 102.8 million shares in Hong Kong at HK$143.50 to HK$165.50 each. At the top price, it would raise HK$17 billion. Its shares are due to start trading in Hong Kong on Aug. 25.
China Tourism is a major duty free network operator in mainland China, with 200 duty free stores in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Cambodia, according to its filings
The deal’s bookbuilding was carried out as Hainan, the company’s biggest mainland market, was locked down due to a COVID outbreak. Holiday city Sanya on the southern end of Hainan island reported 4,393 symptomatic and 6,099 asymptomatic cases from Aug. 1 through Aug. 17.
Currently, duty-free spending in China is largely concentrated in Hainan, where the annual limit on individual duty-free spending was hiked to 100,000 yuan ($14,800) in 2020 from 30,000 yuan previously.