Chinese IPOs surge in Hong Kong as Minieye, Guming line up listings

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The maker of autonomous-driving technology aims to raise US$100 million and the bubble-tea purveyor seeks up to US$500 million

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Customers wait for their orders at a Guming (Good Me) store on August 14, 2021 in Fuzhou, Fujian province. Photo: Getty Images

Mia Castagnone

Published: 5:30pm, 17 Dec 2024Updated: 6:18pm, 17 Dec 2024

Plans for Hong Kong share listings by Chinese companies are coming at a faster pace, as autonomous driving start-up Minieye Technology prices its shares and bubble tea giant Guming revives its initial public offering (IPO) plans.

Shenzhen-based Minieye will sell 39 million shares in the range of HK$17 to HK$20.20 next week, which would allow it to raise up to HK$783 million (US$100 million), the company said in an exchange filing on Tuesday. Guming, which has roughly 9,000 shops in mainland China, aimed to raise US$300 million to US$500 million when it first made a move to list earlier this year.

The growing momentum from Chinese companies is expected to bolster Hong Kong’s exchange in 2025, according to recent forecasts by EY and KPMG.

Fundraising reached HK$83.4 billion in the year to November, according to data compiled by EY, an increase of 80 per cent from a year earlier. The city’s IPO market slumped for a third straight year in 2023 when volume dropped to US$5.9 billion, according to LSE Group data.

Minieye is backed by Alibaba Group Holding co-founder Eddy Wu, who holds a 2.3 per cent stake in the company, according to its prospectus. The company went through at least 17 rounds of fundraising before submitting its prospectus on May 27. Alibaba owns the Post.

Founded in 2014, the start-up’s corporate backers include investment houses such as Beijing Siwei Management, Shenzhen Zeyi, and China International Capital. The company has supported 29 carmakers in delivering autonomous-driving systems.

The exchange is also seeing a flurry of interest from consumer-focused companies. Guming revived its plan for an IPO in Hong Kong over the weekend, after the China Securities Regulatory Commission approved the listing.