Shares in Foshan Haitian, China’s leading soy sauce manufacturer, made a modestly positive debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday 19 June, following a US$1.3 billion initial public offering – one of the largest in the territory so far this year.
The Guangdong-based company saw its shares rise as much as 4 per cent in early trading, before settling to close at HK$36.50, up 0.55 per cent from its listing price of HK$36.30. The listing price had been set at the upper end of its offer range. The performance was notably resilient in the context of a broader market decline, with the Hang Seng Index falling by 2 per cent on the day.
Chairwoman Cheng Xue described the listing as “another important milestone in Haitian’s development history”. Established in 1955 as a small family-run workshop, Foshan Haitian has since grown into China’s largest condiments producer by volume for the past 28 consecutive years. The Hong Kong debut marks its second major market entry, following its Shanghai listing in 2014.
The float attracted substantial interest from cornerstone investors, with Hillhouse Capital, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, and Royal Bank of Canada’s Global Asset Management among those committing to US$595 million worth of shares. The company also exercised its greenshoe option, signalling robust investor appetite.
Proceeds from the offering are earmarked for product development, production expansion, and international market penetration, particularly across Southeast Asia and Europe.
The listing comes at a time of renewed momentum for Hong Kong’s capital markets, following years of subdued activity driven by pandemic-related disruptions, domestic economic stagnation in China, and increased geopolitical scrutiny. Recent high-profile listings, including battery giant CATL and pharmaceutical group Jiangsu Hengrui, have revived optimism around the city’s IPO prospects.
Edward Au, Deloitte China’s southern region managing partner, noted that Hong Kong is “well-positioned to contend for the top position in the global IPO market in 2025”, though he cautioned that broader macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties could still present headwinds.
Foshan Haitian’s debut follows Jiangsu Hengrui’s US$1.3 billion raise in May, one of the largest biopharmaceutical IPOs globally this year, and CATL’s US$4.6 billion listing — the biggest to date in 2025.
According to Bloomberg data, IPOs and follow-on share sales in Hong Kong have so far generated US$26.5 billion as of mid-June, a substantial increase from US$3.8 billion over the same period last year. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange currently has dozens of pending applications from mainland Chinese firms seeking to list, underscoring the resurgence of confidence in the city’s equity markets.
-AFP
