Chinese snack retailer Busy Ming surges more than 80% in Hong Kong debut (updated)
28/01/2026 01:51
Market capitalisation stands at around $11 billion
Proceeds to fund supply-chain upgrade, new products
Cornerstone investors include Tencent, Temasek
Updates with closing share price in paragraphs 1-2, milestone in paragraph 3, quotes in paragraphs 5-6 and 15
By Yantoultra Ngui and Donny Kwok
SINGAPORE/HONG KONG, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Busy Ming Group 1768.HK shares jumped 69% in their Hong Kong trading debut on Wednesday, after the Chinese snack and beverage retailer raised HK$3.67 billion ($470 million) in an initial public offering.
The shares opened at HK$445 each, 88.1% higher than their offer price of HK$236.60, before closing at HK$400, giving Busy Ming a market capitalisation of around HK$86.2 billion ($11 billion).
The opening-day surge made Busy Ming the fifth-strongest debut on record among Hong Kong retail and consumer products IPOs of at least $100 million, according to Dealogic, trailing Smoore International 6969.HK, Pop Mart 9992.HK, Mao Geping 1318.HK and Laopu Gold 6181.HK.
Busy Ming sold 15.5 million shares in the IPO at the top end of a marketed range, versus an initially offered 14.1 million shares. The retail portion of the sale was nearly 1,900 times oversubscribed while the institutional portion was 44.44 times.
"Busy Ming had a strong performance on its first day of listing today," said Kenny Ng, securities strategist at China Everbright Securities International.
"I believe the primary reasons for the stock's popularity during the subscription process and the listing lie in Busy Ming's past record of rapid growth."
The company plans to use IPO proceeds for supply-chain improvement and product development, as well as to upgrade its store network and support franchisees.
The listing comes as Hong Kong attracts a steady stream of Chinese consumer, food and technology firms. Recent offerings and upcoming debuts include beverage maker Eastroc 605499.SS, pork producer Muyuan Foods 002714.SZ, and chipmakers Montage Technology 688008.SS and Axera Semiconductor.
CHINA'S BIGGEST SNACK RETAILER
Busy Ming was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Changsha in Hunan province. It described itself in its IPO prospectus as China's largest snack and beverage chain retailer by sales value in 2024, citing consultancy Frost & Sullivan.
Busy Ming runs stores under the "Busy for You" and "Super Ming" brands, selling products such as biscuits, instant meals and drinks through a mainly franchised retail model.
It prices products about 25% below the average of comparable supermarket offerings, Frost & Sullivan said in the prospectus.
At September-end, it had 19,517 stores across 28 provinces, about 59% of which were in smaller towns and counties, the prospectus showed.
Revenue rose 75% to 46.4 billion yuan ($6.68 billion) in January-September 2025 versus the same period a year prior. The firm estimated full-year profit of not less than 2.3 billion yuan.
Cornerstone investors include social media and gaming major Tencent 0700.HK, Singapore state investor Temasek TEM.UL, global investment firms BlackRock BLK.N and FIL Investment, the prospectus showed.
"Their successful debut today not only highlights the depth and dynamism of China's consumer market, but also marks the start of a new chapter for the company - enabling it to scale with more confidence and enhance its customer offering capabilities," said Tianning Xiang, a partner at global law firm Clifford Chance, which advised Busy Ming on its Hong Kong IPO.
Goldman Sachs GS.N and Huatai International were joint sponsors of the IPO.
($1 = 7.8011 Hong Kong dollars)
(Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore, Donny Kwok in Hong Kong and Scott Murdoch in Sydney; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Christopher Cushing and Thomas Derpinghaus)
((Yantoultra.Ngui@thomsonreuters.com;))