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SF Holding delivers a lacklustre trading debut in Hong Kong amid tepid market sentiment

Shares of the Chinese courier firm SF Holding began trading at HK$34.30, unchanged from its IPO price

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Trading debut of SF Holding on the Hong Kong stock exchange on November 27, 2024. Photo: Mia Castagnone.

SF Holding, China’s largest courier deliverer often regarded as the nation’s equivalent to FedEx, delivered a flat trading debut in Hong Kong amid tepid sentiment, a precursor to a busy week of stock debuts that will add several billion Hong Kong dollars to this year’s listing proceeds.

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Trading under the 6936 code, SF shares rose by as much as 1.2 per cent to an intraday high of HK$35.50, after opening unchanged from its initial public offering price (IPO) of HK$34.30. The shares ended the day unchanged, while the benchmark Hang Seng Index climbed 2.3 per cent from a two-month low.

The opening trading premium values the company’s Hong Kong-listed equity base at HK$6.7 billion based on its post-listing capital base of 195.5 million shares, according to its listing prospectus. SF Holding has about 4.82 billion A shares listed in Shenzhen.

Delivery workers of SF Express in Hong Kong’s Mong Kok district on 18 August 2021. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Delivery workers of SF Express in Hong Kong’s Mong Kok district on 18 August 2021. Photo: Jonathan Wong

“This listing is very meaningful for us, as we are relying on [Hong Kong’s open market] to enhance the expansion of our international business”, said SF’s chairman and CEO Wang Wei, before striking the ceremonial gong to mark the commencement of trading.

At HK$34.35, the company’s H shares are worth 32.03 yuan each at current exchange rate. Its A shares in Shenzhen fell 1.1 per cent to 41.60 yuan at of 1.33pm local time, according to exchange data.

SF Holding, whose main business is its SF Express courier service, raised HK$5.83 billion from its IPO. Several investment vehicles linked to Hong Kong billionaires took up stakes as cornerstone investors, including developer Sino Land and a company backed by the family of Henry Cheng Kar-shun of New World Development.
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Other parties included US investment firm Oaktree Capital Management, smartphone and EV maker Xiaomi, Morgan Stanley and China Pacific Insurance Group. Goldman Sachs, Huatai Securities and JPMorgan Chase are joint sponsors of the offering.
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