RoboTechnik Intelligent Technology Co shares fell on their trading debut in Hong Kong in one of the city’s busiest days for new listings.
The stock dropped as much as 9.8 percent, after raising $660 million in its initial public offering. The maker of equipment and software that help solar-panel and silicon-photonics chip factories automate production drew cornerstone investors including Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte, Sunpeak Asset Holdings Ltd, and E Fund Management Co. Its Shenzhen-listed shares have more than doubled this year.
Three other companies that began trading on Tuesday included printed circuit-board maker Shenzhen Kinwong Electronic Co, which gained as much as 11 percent, erasing an earlier drop of 8.1 percent, and robotics components maker Direct Drive Tech Ltd, which rose as much as 9.5 percent. Chemical products maker Red Avenue New Materials Group Co, which completed a $382 million offering, fell on its first day of trade.
The four companies raised a combined HK$14.4 billion ($1.8 billion), adding to Hong Kong’s blockbuster year for listings.
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Fundraising by artificial intelligence-linked firms has driven a surge in the city’s first-time share sales even as broader equity markets whipsawed with geopolitical tremors and waves of impact from the evolving AI landscape.
IPOs, share placements and block trades in the financial hub raised $45.5 billion in the third quarter, a record for the period and just shy of the all-time quarterly high of $47.6 billion reached in 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“People are rewarding growth and are excited by the size of the markets that many AI companies are targeting and the whole value chain,” said Stanislas Chanavat, principal of private equity technology at Pictet Alternative Advisors.
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“If you are close to any semiconductors, pieces of data centers, memory, and the models and applications that AI companies are building, you obviously benefit from this imbalance of supply and demand. You have pricing power and you have basically accelerated growth trajectory on your revenue line.”
Some of this year’s biggest deals in Hong Kong include Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s $10 billion follow-on offering in August, optical transceiver maker Zhongji Innolight Co raising nearly $8 billion in its Hong Kong listing, as well as Z.AI Co’s $5 billion stock-and-convertible sale in mid-September. Shenzhen Kinwong Electronic raised $650 million, while Direct Drive Tech raised $138 million.
