Chinas Topsports Raises $1.01b In Hong Kong IPO

Chinese sportswear manufacturer Topsports International Holdings Ltd has raised $1.01 billion after pricing its shares at HK$8.50 in a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), a term sheet for the deal showed on Thursday.

The stock priced toward the lower end of a marketing range of HK$8.30 to HK$10.10 ($1.06 to $1.29).

It is due to start trading on Oct. 10, the term sheet showed.

The sale is the latest test of investment sentiment in Hong Kong which has seen increasingly violent political protests.

The Hang Seng Index has lost 4.3% since the protests began in mid-June though is still 1% higher than at the same point last year, Refinitiv data showed.

Last month Anheuser-Busch InBev NV unit Budweiser Brewing Company APAC Ltd also priced at the bottom of its HK$27-30 range to raise $5 billion. The stock gained 6% in its first session on Monday and is now at $29.60.

Topsports‘ raising was also carried out during a fraught U.S. trading session with the Dow Jones Index shedding 494.42 points, or 1.86%, in its largest one-day percentage fall since Aug. 23.

Topsports initially aimed to raise up to $1.2 billion, the term sheet showed. Ultimately, it raised $1.01 billion and has an overallotment – or greenshoe – option allowing it to sell stock worth an extra $160 million depending on demand, the people said.

Topsports declined to comment. The people with knowledge of the matter declined to comment as they were not authorised to speak with media.

Topsports is the largest sportswear retailer in China by retail sales value, with a 15.9% market share in 2018, the company said in its IPO prospectus, citing consultants Frost & Sullivan.

It distributes and is a retail partner with global sportswear makers Nike Inc and Adidas AG.

The IPO was sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. With $1 billion raised, the firm has a market capitalisation of about $6.74 billion, the term sheet showed.

Topsports previously said it would use 9.7% of the proceeds to invest in technology, nearly 27% to repay short-term bank loans and 45% to repay debt to parent Belle International Holdings Ltd.

Belle International was privatised by Hillhouse Capital Group and CDH Investments in July 2017 in a deal worth $6.8 billion.

Reuters