The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is buzzing with activities while its European and U.S. counterparts see lacklustre performance due to a significant reduction in trading and listing activities. Haitong Securities, China's second-largest brokerage by total assets after Citic Securities, is selling 1.229 billion shares (worth US$1.67 billion IPO), with European private equity firm Warburg Pincus planning to take a cornerstone role.
Meanwhile, Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd.'s up to US$2.8 billion Hong Kong IPO was also fully covered by Tuesday, a day after it started taking orders. The gold and diamond jewellery retailer, which has more than 1,500 shops mainly in China, counts George Soros, the retired infamous hedge fund manager, as its main buyer. He was said to have snapped up US$40 million worth of shares while Lee Shau Kee, chairman of Hong Kong property giant Henderson Land Development Co., had also bought HK$500 million (US$64 million) worth of shares.
Also taking orders is the up to US$2.28 billion Hong Kong-Shanghai IPO of New China Life Insurance Co. New China Life has already secured four cornerstone investors who have pledged to buy a total of US$780 million in the Hong Kong tranche: Singapore-listed insurer Great Eastern Holdings Ltd., Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund, Khazanah Nasional Bhd., hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Co., and Asian private-equity firm MBK Partners.
Apparently, the smart money is pointing to us the region to where we should put our money in the midst of this turbulence. While they see value and opportunities in the future, the retail investors are fixated on the current dire situation. It is no wonder that the rich can only get richer.
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