中國公司公開募股活動 : 在美國被攆走, 在自己國土達最高紀錄

Recently Yahoo Business on-line reported the following:

China Inc.’s IPO Haul from the U.S. and at Home Tops Records

Julia Fioretti

Bloomberg Tue., December 15, 2020, 5:44 p.m. PST

(Bloomberg) -- China Inc raised money at home and overseas in initial public offerings like never before, buoyed by the country’s early emergence from the pandemic.

Firms like the healthcare affiliate of e-commerce giant JD.com Inc. and gaming platform NetEase Inc listed in Hong Kong and helped boost initial public offerings and secondary listings from Chinese companies to a record $129 billion in 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Mainland firms, listing in the U.S., Hong Kong, and on Chinese exchanges, made up as much as 37% of the value of global offerings this year. This was China’s highest share of the worldwide IPO pool since 2009 when the global financial crisis sapped listing activity in the U.S.

“China has clearly seen the fastest recovery of any of the major global economies this year,” said Francesco Lavatelli, head of equity capital markets, Asia Pacific, at JPMorgan Chase & Co. adding that equity investors seeking returns amid low interest rates have flocked to Chinese shares.

They managed this feat despite two major headwinds: the shock suspension in November of fintech giant Ant Group Co.’s $35 billion dual Hong Kong-Shanghai float and the passing by the U.S. Congress of legislation earlier this month that would force Chinese companies to delist from American exchanges unless they comply with U.S. auditing rules.

In fact, Chinese companies had anticipated a stricter stance by the U.S. toward them even before the passing of the legislation and had been seeking out Hong Kong listings as a hedge against being banned from trading stateside. During the year, a spate of so-called “homecoming” listings raised billions of dollars in Hong Kong share sales in 2020. That came on the heels of New York-traded Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s secondary offering in the city last year.

The flurry of deals -- especially in the tech and health-care space, both areas that thrived during the pandemic -- upended banker concerns early in the year of an IPO drought.

As the coronavirus outbreak raged on, fears of muted equity capital markets activity dissipated. Companies affected by Covid-19 lockdowns raised funds in record levels to shore up their balance sheets. On the flip side, a flood of liquidity from central banks aimed at countering Covid-19’s economic damage as well as low interest rates whetted investor appetite for new share offerings.

“Sitting on the sidelines putting your cash in a bank account is costly at the end of the day,” said Gaetano Bassolino, head of global banking, Asia Pacific, at UBS Group AG. “That has really changed the way investors look at risk.”

IPO volumes in the U.S. also hit an all-time high this year, with about $173 billion in total raised not just from listings by the likes of American tech startups Airbnb Inc. and DoorDash Inc. but also Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng Inc. and online property broker KE Holdings Inc.

At home, China accelerated reforms in its IPO market, allowing wider daily swings in newly listed shares. Hong Kong had eased rules for new-economy listings in 2018, opening the gates for tech firms with dual-class shares to go public in the city.

Most of the biggest listings by Chinese companies this year have had some tech element. Chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.’s $7.5 billion July listing in Shanghai is the biggest float this year by a Chinese firm, followed by the $4.5 billion secondary listing in Hong Kong by Nasdaq-traded JD.com Inc in June.

The queue of listings and investor appetite for new stock show no signs of slowing even as the year comes to a close. On the back of the best-ever month for global stocks, JD’s health-care unit raised $3.5 billion in Hong Kong and went on to surge 56% on its debut last week. Mainland toymaker Pop Mart International Group Ltd. jumped 79% on its first day of trading three days later.

“Investors are looking for sustainable growth and there are three places you are going to find it: technology, health care, and China,” said Udhay Furtado, co-head of Asia equity capital markets at Citigroup Inc. in Hong Kong.

Translation

（彭博社）- 中國公司在全球病毒大流行中較早復原, 為這個國家提供了前所未有的首次公開募股籌集資金的機會。

彭博社彙編的數據顯示，電子商務巨頭JD.com Inc. 的醫療保健子公司和遊戲平台網易（NetEase Inc.）在香港作公司上市並幫助推動了中國公司的首次公開募股和二次上市, 在2020年達到創紀錄的1290億美元. 。

今年在美國, 香港, 和中國證券交易所上市的內地公司佔全球IPO總值的37%。這是自2009年全球金融危機爆發以來卡住了在美國的上市活動後, 中國在全球IPO集資中的最高份額。

摩根大通（JPMorgan Chase＆Co.）亞太區股票資本​​市場主管弗朗切斯科·拉瓦特利（Francesco Lavatelli）表示：“中國顯然是今年全球主要經濟體中復蘇最快的國家。”他補充說，在低利率下尋求回報的股票投資者蜂擁而至到中國股份。

儘管遇到了兩個重大阻力，他們還是成功地完成了這一壯舉：金融科技巨頭螞蟻集團（Ant Group Co.）11月的震驚的停止350億美元的價格在香港和上海兩地上市，和於本月初美國國會通過了的立法，這將迫使中國公司自美國交易所退市, 除非它們遵守美國的審核規則。

實際上，甚至在立法通過之前，中國公司就已經預料到美國會對他們採取更嚴格的立場，並一直在尋求在香港上市，以對沖被禁止在美國境內交易。到2020年，一連串的 “回鄉” 上市, 在香港股票交易中籌集了數十億美元。這是緊隨去年在紐約交易的阿里巴巴集團控股有限公司在香港進行的二次發行。

一連串的交易 - 尤其是在病毒大流行期間繁榮的兩個領域 - 科技和醫療保健範圍 - 翻轉銀行家在年初擔憂的IPO乾旱。

伴隨著冠狀病毒的持續肆虐，人們對股本資本市場活動減弱的擔憂消散了。受Covid-19封城限制影響的公司, 籌集了創紀錄水平的資金以支撐其資產負債表。另一方面，來自中央銀行的大量流動資金旨在應對Covid-19的經濟損失, 以及低利率, 激發了投資者對新股發行的興趣。

瑞銀集團（UBS Group AG）亞太區全球銀行業務負責人加埃塔諾·巴斯索利諾（Gaetano Bassolino）說：“靜觀其變，將現金存入銀行賬戶的最終代價非常昂貴。這確實改變了投資者看待風險的方式。”

美國今年的IPO量也創下了歷史新高，籌集了約1,730億美元。不僅有美國科技初創公司Airbnb Inc. 和DoorDash Inc.的上市，而且還包括中國電動汽車製造商Xpeng Inc.和美國的在線房地產經紀人KE Holdings Inc.

中國在國內加快了IPO市場的改革，允許新上市股票的每日波動幅度更大。在2018年香港放寬了新經濟上市規則，為擁有雙重股份類型的科技公司在香港上市打開了大門.

中國公司今年最大的IPO大多數都具有科技元素。芯片製造商中芯国際（ Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.）7月份在上海進行的75億美元的上市，是中國公司今年最大的IPO，其次是在納斯達克有交易, 六月在香港的45億美元的二次上市的JD.com Inc。

即使今年尾聲臨近，排隊上市和投資者對新股的興趣也沒有放緩的跡象。 在全球股市有史以來最好的一個月的背後，JD.com Inc的醫療保健部門在香港籌集了35億美元，上週首次亮相後便飆升了56％。 三天後，內地玩具製造商泡泡玛特國際集團（Pop Mart International Group Ltd.）的首日交易上漲了79％。

花旗集團（Citigroup Inc.）駐香港的亞洲股票資本市場聯合主管Udhay Furtado表示：“投資者正在尋找可持續增長，您將在三個地方找到它：技術，醫療保健和中國。”

              So, it is interesting to know that JD’s health-care unit had raised $3.5 billion in Hong Kong and went on to surge 56% on its debut. Also, mainland toymaker Pop Mart International Group Ltd. jumped 79% on its first day of trading three days later. It seems that Chinese companies have become gold mines for investors.

Note: JD.com, Inc. (JD in Chinese is Jīngdōng (京东), was formerly called 360buy. It is a Chinese e-commerce company with its headquarters in Beijing. The company was founded by Liu Qiangdong in 1998. It is one of the two massive online retailers in China by transaction volume and revenue, and is also a major competitor to Alibaba. It is partly owned by Tencent at 20%.