Retail Traders Eye $60 Billion for Toymaker’s Hong Kong IPO
Retail investors are eager to borrow nearly $60 billion for Bloks Group’s IPO, showcasing strong interest in new listings in Hong Kong
Bloks Group, Hong Kong, IPO, Retail Investors, Stock Exchange
Hong Kong: Retail investors are buzzing about the upcoming IPO of Bloks Group, a Chinese toymaker. They’re looking to borrow a whopping $60 billion to get in on the action. That’s a huge sign of interest in new listings!
According to the latest data, individual investors have applied to borrow over 3,000 times the shares set aside for them. They’re really going all out, trying to snag shares at the top price. As of noon in Hong Kong, they’ve asked to borrow around HK$451 billion, which is about $58 billion.
Bloks, known for its assembly-character toys, started taking orders on Tuesday and plans to list its shares on January 10. They’re offering 24.1 million shares, aiming to raise up to HK$1.5 billion, with 10% of those shares going to local retail investors.
It looks like dealmakers are feeling optimistic about Hong Kong’s IPO scene this year. Last year, some smaller listings really caught the eye of individual investors, leading to some crazy subscription rates.
For instance, SF Holding’s $749 million listing saw a staggering 79 times subscription for its retail portion. And Herbs Generation Group’s $16 million IPO? It was over 6,000 times! Both of these triggered a mechanism that boosted the share allocation for retail investors.
Hong Kong’s stock exchange is also looking to tweak some IPO rules. They’re considering changes to the clawback mechanism, which currently allows mom-and-pop investors to snag up to 50% of a deal when demand is high. They might lower that to 20% if companies reserve 5% of shares for the public.
This mechanism has been a bit of a headache for investment bankers, who feel it leaves them with too little stock to offer to funds when demand is through the roof.