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Kuaishou shares jump 161 per cent in debut as Hong Kong’s hottest IPO paves way for offerings from rival video-sharing app owners
- Kuaishou’s shares began trading at HK$338 per share and rose by as much as 200 per cent to HK$345 versus its IPO price of HK$115
- The stock closed at HK$300 on Friday, valuing the 10-year-old unprofitable company at HK$1.23 trillion (US$159 billion)
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Kuaishou Technology, the video-sharing platform behind the most sought-after initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong’s financial annals, made a bigger-than-expected splash in its trading debut on the city’s exchange.
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The stock completed its first day of trading at HK$300, more than double its offer price of HK$115, after earlier hitting a high of HK$345. The shares were indicated at HK$322 in the grey market on Thursday.
This ranked Kuaishou the second most successful debuts for offerings larger than US$1 billion each, according to Refinitiv’s data. China’s biggest chip maker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation tripled on its debut last July in Shanghai, while cloud-based data warehousing firm Snowflake doubled on its first day of trading last September on the New York Stock Exchange.
The surge in Kuaishou’s market debut valued the group at HK$1.23 trillion (US$159 billion). Tencent Holdings has a 17.7 per cent stake in the company.
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Kuaishou’s listing is a watershed moment for the group, chief executive Su Hua said at an event in Beijing on Friday. “To us, the listing in Hong Kong represents the starting point whereby [the company] see even greater challenges and opportunities going forward,” he said in a speech uploaded on Weixin, a popular domestic social messaging app.
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