Shares of Italian yacht maker Ferretti sail high in Hong Kong debut (updated)

Ferretti SpA

31/03/2022 03:22

(Update stock price, adds details and context)
    HONG KONG, March 31 (Reuters) - Shares in Italian yacht
maker Ferretti SpA  9638.HK  climbed 1.2% in their Hong Kong
debut on Thursday after raising $244 million at a time when the
Asian financial hub has seen a slump in the value of initial
public offerings (IPOs) this quarter.
    The stock, which opened at HK$23.05 per share, traded as
high as HK$23.15 apiece in early trade, up from the offering
price of HK$22.88. That compared with a 0.8% drop in the
benchmark Hang Seng Index  .HSI .
    The luxury yacht maker said on Wednesday it had pocketed a
net HK$1.77 billion ($226 million) after it priced the IPO near
the bottom of its target range.
     Ferretti, whose customers include British fashion designer
Jimmy Choo and former football star David Beckham, is a market
leader for yachts measuring at least 80 feet, with a price tag
ranging from 4 million euros ($4.47 million) to more than 20
million euros.
    Braving choppy markets, Ferretti sold 83.58 million shares,
or 25% of its enlarged share capital, in the global offering,
raising proceeds to broaden its brand portfolio and strengthen
services for owners of its boats. 
    The Hong Kong offering portion was 1.07 times
oversubscribed, while demand for the international offering
totalled more than twice the amount on sale, it said.
    The value of Hong Kong IPOs in the first quarter tumbled to
$837.4 million from $11 billion from the year-ago period,
Refinitiv data showed.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2VO00X
    Italian investors led by Milanese asset manager Banca
Mediolanum  BMED.MI  bought into the Hong Kong IPOs by Ferretti,
which saw Chinese investors take the lion's share, a person with
knowledge of the matter said.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2VX6KA
    Chinese firms Sunshine Insurance, Sanya Development
Holdings, Hainan Free Trade Port Fund, Hainan Financial Holdings
and Haifa Holding acted as cornerstone investors taking 53% of
the offering, Ferretti said.
    Ferretti, whose brands include Riva, Pershing and Wally, is
owned by Chinese conglomerate Weichai Group.

           
     ($1 = 7.8273 Hong Kong dollars)
      ($1 = 0.8953 euros)
    

 (Reporting by Donny Kwok; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman
and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
 ((donny.kwok@thomsonreuters.com; +852 3952 5874;))