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HONG KONG: Shares in China's top soy sauce maker Foshan Haitian ended slightly higher on its debut on Thursday (Jun 19) after raising US$1.3 billion in one of Hong Kong's biggest initial public offerings (IPO) this year.
The listing came weeks after openings by Chinese battery giant CATL and pharmaceutical firm Jiangsu Hengrui boosted hopes that the Asian financial hub is bouncing back as a destination for stock market flotations.
Foshan Haitian's shares rose as much as 4 per cent in opening trade before sinking back towards their HK$36.30 (US$4.62) listing price, which was the higher end of its offer range.
The stock ended the day up 0.55 per cent at HK$36.50, though it outperformed the Hang Seng Index, which sank 2 per cent.
Chairwoman Cheng Xue called the listing "another important milestone in Haitian's development history".
Foshan Haitian was founded in southern China's Guangdong province in 1955 and has developed from a small family workshop into a major producer of soy sauce, an essential ingredient in East Asian cuisine.
The company has claimed the title of China's largest condiments maker by volume for 28 years, and its IPO came after it listed in Shanghai in 2014.
Cornerstone investors for the Hong Kong listing - including private equity giant Hillhouse, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and Royal Bank of Canada's Global Asset Management - agreed to buy shares worth US$595 million.
The firm exercised its option to issue additional shares, reflecting robust market demand.
Foshan Haitian says it will use the proceeds to develop products, expand capacity and explore overseas markets in Southeast Asia and Europe.
Hong Kong's stock market has taken a battering in recent years as appetite for new listings in the city was dampened by the COVID-19 pandemic and China's lethargic domestic growth, while a strict security law added to uncertainty.
But it is now seeing a strong rebound, with an increasing number of listed Chinese companies flocking to the former British colony for secondary offerings.
"We are cautiously optimistic that Hong Kong is well-positioned to contend for the top position in the global IPO market in 2025," Edward Au, Deloitte China's southern region managing partner, wrote in a note.
But "adverse geopolitical or macroeconomic disruptions" could affect the optimism, he warned.
Foshan Haitian's listing comes after Jiangsu Hengrui raised around US$1.3 billion in May in one of the world's biggest biopharma IPOs this year.
That was days after the US$4.6 billion taken by CATL, which was the most so far in 2025.
Proceeds from IPOs and additional share sales in Hong Kong have reached US$26.5 billion as of June, compared with US$3.8 billion over the same period last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is processing dozens of applications from Chinese companies this year, its database shows.
