Samsonite falls on Hong Kong trading debut
SAMSONITE International, the world’s biggest luggage maker, has dropped 7.6 per cent in its first day of Hong Kong trading, underscoring tepid investor appetite for initial public offerings as the markets struggle.
Samsonite’s slump yesterday is the latest in a string of weak Hong Kong IPO performances as China’s strong growth shows signs of weakening.
“Of course you have to attribute that to the weak sentiment in the market and in the meantime people won’t be too interested in IPOs,” said Alex Wong, a director with Ample Finance Group.
Samsonite saw its shares close at HK$13.38 yesterday and trade as low as HK$12.96.
Despite the poor debut, Samsonite’s chief executive Tim Parker said in a ceremony at the stock exchange that he is optimistic about the long-term outlook for the stock and expansion in fast-growing Asia.
“The markets are very volatile at the moment, so I feel this is a pretty good way to open actually. I’m not at all displeased,” said Parker.
The company and shareholders, including private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners and Royal Bank of Scotland, sold 671.2m shares to raise HK$9.73bn (£773m).