First batch of Chinese IPO shares surge in debut
Some shares among the first batch of stocks to list under China’s registration-based initial public offering (IPO) system more than tripled in their debut yesterday despite tepidness in the broader market.
The listing of the 10 companies on the main boards in Shanghai and Shenzhen marks the full rollout of China’s new US-style IPO mechanism, designed to make public share sales more market oriented.
The system has been adopted by Shanghai’s tech-focused STAR Market, Shenzhen’s startup board ChiNext and the Beijing Stock Exchange for smaller companies.
Shenzhen CECport Technologies Co, an electronic components distributor based in the southern technology hub of Shenzhen, opened up 161% yesterday, and surged as much as 239% after it raised 2.25bn yuan (R6bn).
Under the new rules, there is no daily trading limit for the first five trading days for shares that have listed after an IPO.
Previously, new stocks listed on China’s main boards could jump as much as 44% and slump no more than 36% in their debut.
However, after those five days, stocks listed on the main boards will be subject to the regular 10% daily trading limit.
Dencare Chongqing Oral Care Co, an oral products maker, opened up 98% and soared as much as 214%.
The other eight companies, including Shaanxi Energy Investment Co and Both Engineering Technology Co, rose between 50% and 120%.
Ade Chen, the general manager of asset manager Fund Investment in Guangzhou, said the stocks surged as their valuation and debut prices were not expensive.
CECport Technologies’s IPO was priced at 26.8 times its earnings, below the industrywide valuation in 2021 of 35 times earnings, according to its prospectus.
Dencare’s price-to-earnings ratio for the IPO was 36.8, versus a wider industry valuation of 51.6 in 2021, its prospectus said.
Both figures indicate the companies are undervalued relative to their peers.
“Afterwards, investors will focus more on companies’ growth potential and fundamentals,” Chen said.
Overall, China’s stock benchmark index, slipped roughly 0.3% yesterday, as investors focused on China’s drills around the Taiwan Strait and awaited more data to gauge the strength of China’s economic recovery after it dropped restrictive Covid-19 policies. The market-oriented IPO system reform is expected to speed up listings and corporate fundraising, as Beijing seeks to revive an economy ravaged by Covid restrictions.
“The changes brought about by the IPO reform are all-round and fundamental, centred by information disclosure,” Yi Huiman, the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission said, according to a report from state media CCTV yesterday.
“The service function of the capital market to the real economy, especially technological innovation, has been greatly improved,” Yi said. —