【英语财经】香港启动2016年首笔规模逾10亿美元IPO Hong Kong prices first $1bn float for 2016

Hong Kong has priced the first public float in the world to raise more than $1bn in 2016, marking the slowest start to a year for initial public offerings since the financial crisis in 2009.

Hong Kong is top of the global rankings after China’s Zheshang Bank yesterday raised $1.7bn from its IPO.

So far IPOs globally have raised $12.8bn, according to Dealogic — one-third of last year’s total by this point — as January’s market turmoil rattled investor nerves.

The New York Stock Exchange has not seen a single listing so far this year — its second longest drought on record after the period following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange has raised $3.5bn in total so far this year, putting it ahead of London with $1.8bn and Nasdaq with $1.2bn.

But bankers cautioned against reading too much into the 2016 success of Hong Kong. Most of the capital raised has been for Chinese regional bank offerings — a sector that often relies on mainland support more than interest from international investors.

Rising bad debts have pushed China’s banks to seek capital in recent years. Three regional banks listed in December, raising a combined $2.3bn, and, in addition to the Zheshang offering, Bank of Tianjin this week priced its IPO at $948m.

Both the Zheshang and Tianjin deals priced near the low end of their ranges and both also allotted more than half their total books to so-called cornerstones — investors that accept six-month lock-ups in return for large stakes.

“[Cornerstone] deals are fairly binary and often not distributed widely, since if they’re held tightly, marginal demand can lift the shares after IPO,” said one banker.

Cornerstones used to be a means of attracting interest by attaching marquee names to a prospectus. More recently, however, many Chinese listings in Hong Kong, particularly state-owned groups, have relied on what bankers have dubbed “friends and family” such as fellow state owned enerprises, to bolster IPO order books.

Bankers are, however, hopeful that the recent market rally may help stabilise investor appetite, or at least provide the setting for what one Hong Kong specialist called “windows of opportunity” in the coming months.

香港已为2016年第一笔融资逾10亿美元的公开上市交易定价，这标志着自2009年金融危机以来最为迟缓的首次公开发行(IPO)开局。

昨日，中国内地的浙商银行(Zheshang Bank)通过IPO融资17亿美元，使香港成为今年迄今全球融资额最高的上市地。

Dealogic数据显示，迄今全球范围的IPO已融资128亿美元，仅为去年截至此时融资额的三分之一，1月份的市场动荡令投资者感到紧张不安。

今年迄今，纽交所(NYSE)尚未有过一笔IPO，为2008年9月雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)倒闭以来，没有一宗IPO的第二漫长的“旱季”。

今年迄今，港交所(HKEx)的IPO融资总额达到35亿美元，超过了伦敦的18亿美元和纳斯达克(Nasdaq)的12亿美元。

但是，银行家们不太看好2016年香港会成为全球融资额最高的上市地点。今年迄今在香港上市融资的大多是中国内地的地区性银行——相比国际投资者的兴趣，此类银行往往在更大程度上依靠内地的支持。

近年来，坏账比例提高促使中国的银行寻求更多资本。去年12月，三家地区性银行上市，共融资23亿美元。除了浙商银行，天津银行(Bank of Tianjin)本周也进行了IPO定价，融资9.48亿美元。

浙商银行和天津银行都将发行价定在价格区间的低端，也都把半数以上股票配售给所谓基石投资者——这些投资者接受6个月锁定期以换取较大股份。

“（基石）交易相当具有二元性，而且往往并非广泛分布，因为如果这些股份被紧紧攥牢，在IPO完成后边际需求就可提升股价，”一位银行人士称。

基石过去是一种吸引投资者兴趣的手段：将显赫的名字放在招股说明书上。然而，近来很多在香港上市的内地企业、特别是国有集团，依赖于被银行人士称为“亲朋好友”的其他国有企业来支撑IPO认购账簿。

然而，银行人士对最近的市场反弹可能有助于稳定投资者兴趣抱有希望，或者说至少为某位香港专家所说的未来数月出现“机会窗口”做好铺垫。

译者/何黎