China’s Sany Heavy calls off Hong Kong IPO as stocks fall
SANY Heavy Industry has postponed its up to $3.3bn (£2.1bn) Hong Kong share offering due to tumbling global markets, it emerged yesterday.
The company, China’s largest construction machinery maker, has set no new dates for the deal, said the sources, who could not be named because the decision is not public.
Sany Heavy’s deal would have been Hong Kong’s second-largest offering this year.
If it is postponed, it will be the second high profile IPO to have stalled in the far east this week. Earlier Manchester United paused its share listing in Singapore, with sources citing “market volatility” as the reason.
Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index tumbled nearly five per cent yesterday amid concern about Europe’s debt crisis and the US economy.
The index has retreated 11.4 per cent since Sany Heavy and its underwriters began meeting with investors to drum up demand for the deal on 5 September while Sany Heavy’s Shanghai-listed stock has declined 5.4 per cent over the same period.
“There’s not much you can do with a market like this,” said a source with direct knowledge of Sany Heavy’s listing plans.
The UK’s new issues market has seen very few listings recently.