FWD Group made a flat trading debut in the Hong Kong stock market, as the insurer’s four-year listing journey from New York back to its hometown failed to resonate with investors, even as it built an Asia-wide group across 10 markets.
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Trading under the stock code 1828, FWD’s shares began trading at HK$38.00, unchanged from its offered price during its initial public offering (IPO), which raised HK$3.47 billion (US$442 million) last week.
The IPO of the insurer founded by Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li Tzar-kai will help improve FWD’s capital structure and serve a bigger pool of clients in the coming years as demand for insurance protection increases with wealth creation, according to CEO Huynh Thanh Phong.
“A successful IPO is a very important milestone for us, but it is not the end-game for us,” he said in an interview with the Post on Sunday. “The IPO gives us flexibility in capital management. It supports our vision of building a pan-Asian business that is based in Hong Kong and serves customers across Asia.”
The insurer sold 91.3 million shares at HK$38 each, giving the company a market capitalisation of HK$48.3 billion. About 30 per cent of the IPO shares went to retail investors, tripling the initial allocation to meet excess demand. FWD has an option to sell a further 13.7 million shares through an overallotment to the IPO managers.
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