The $1 billion initial public offering from a Chinese start-up that was set to be Hong Kong’s biggest listing this year has been halved, reflecting investors’ aversion to share offers in China after years of underperformance, reports the Financial Times. J&T Express, a delivery company with operations in south-east Asia and China, was forced to lower the fundraising target due to lacklustre investor response, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The downsized listing of the group, which counts Chinese ecommerce giants Pinduoduo and ByteDance’s TikTok as its clients, comes as global investors are increasingly pessimistic over China’s growth outlook and frayed relations with the US.
“Right now with China [IPOs] you need to take a 20 to 30% discount just for deals to get done,” said one banker, adding that J&T had “decided to keep the valuation the same but just sell a smaller stake”, as poor market conditions in Hong Kong sapped investor appetite.
