Citigroup sees ‘confidence signals’ in Hong Kong IPOs amid backlog, bond market optimism
A bounce in convertible bond offerings implies underlying optimism in equity upside, which Citigroup sees as a ‘confidence signal’ for IPO market
Those signs include a rebound in the US IPO market, stability in China’s macroeconomic data, optimism in the equity-linked bond market and a narrowing of valuation expectations between buyers and sellers, said James Fleming, London-based global co-head of equity capital markets.
“We are in the early stages of the cyclical recovery,” he said in an interview in Hong Kong on Monday. “We are heading in the right direction. The backlog is very big.”
Citigroup ranked first in the league table for global IPO and Asia-Pacific equity offerings’ in the first eight months of this year, according to Bloomberg data, topping rivals including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Its recent deals in Asia included Prudential’s US$2.4 billion equity offering and sponsorship of the IPOs of China Resources Mixc, Onewo and Leap Motors.
