China Resources New Energy saw its share price almost triple on its Shenzhen debut on Thursday, after the wind and solar power company raised 24.5 billion yuan ($3.61 billion) in Asia’s biggest initial public offering so far this year.
The stock opened at 21.60 yuan versus an IPO price of 10.11 yuan. It surged as much as 198%, triggering a brief trading suspension.
The debut, which bucks weakness in the broader market on Thursday, is a test of efforts to attract major mainland listings and draw household savings back to the stock market after an IPO slowdown.
The blue-chip index CSI300 was down nearly 2% in early morning trade.
A-share IPOs, or listings on Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing exchanges, raised $7.7 billion in the first half of the year, up 64.4% from the same period a year earlier, LSEG data showed. Overall IPO proceeds by Chinese companies, including offshore listings, nearly doubled to $16.2 billion.
A strong start for China Resources New Energy could encourage more and bigger deals, including memory chip maker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), which is planning a 29.5 billion yuan Shanghai IPO.
China Resources New Energy is controlled by Hong Kong-listed China Resources Power, part of state-owned China Resources Group. It invests in, builds and runs wind and solar farms across China.
Its IPO is Shenzhen’s biggest on record, LSEG data showed. Retail investors placed about 6.4 trillion yuan worth of orders for an online portion of the deal, making the retail tranche more than 683 times covered.
The company sold 2.11 billion shares before an over-allotment option, equal to about 16.2% of its enlarged share capital. If the option is fully exercised, the sale will rise to 2.42 billion shares.
Listing proceeds will go toward investment for wind and solar projects.
The IPO comes as the government aims to generate half of its electricity using non-fossil sources by 2030, even as power producers face falling power prices, grid limits and heavy competition.
($1 = 6.7943 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Reuters
