Shenwan Hongyuan Group launched on Thursday what is set to be the largest initial public offering in Hong Kong so far this year as the Shanghai-based brokerage seeks as much as HK$9.8 billion $1.25 billion to belatedly catch up with its bigger rivals.
The deeply-discounted transaction promises to give the Hong Kong primary market a boost after a lacklustre first quarter in first-time share sales. Although the total volume of IPO fundraising was only down 7% on the first three months of last year, the city failed to attract any deals worth more than $400 million for the first time in a decade.
A Hong...