Midea seeks to raise US$3.46 billion on HKEX as blockbuster IPOs tip toe back to Hong Kong

Midea Group, the world’s largest maker of home appliances, is seeking to raise up to HK$26.97 billion (US$3.46 billion) with a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), which would be one of the city’s most substantial new-share sales in about three years.

Midea’s offering will run from Monday to Thursday. Its shares will start trading on September 17. It is set to surpass Chinese search giant Baidu’s US$3.08 billion IPO in March 2021 and fall just short of JD Logistics’ US$3.64 billion IPO in May 2021, according to data compiled by the London Stock Exchange Group.

The Midea IPO has attracted 18 cornerstone investors who would purchase US$1.26 billion worth of shares if they are at the midpoint of the offer range, according to a prospectus. These investors include Cosco Shipping Holdings (Hong Kong), UBS Asset Management (Singapore), China Structural Reform Fund II, and a BYD unit called Golden Link.

The Midea offering would be a much-needed boost for the new-share offering market in Hong Kong, where deals shrank in size and frequency; the city ranked 13th in terms of global IPO venues in the first half of the year. So far this year, the city’s largest IPO was that of the tea shop company Sichuan Baicha Baidao Industrial, which raised HK$2.58 billion in April.