HONG KONG: The world's first Yuan-denominated IPO outside mainland China has drawn a tepid response from Hong Kong investors, a source told AFP Thursday, raising concerns about the keenly watched market.
Billionaire Li Ka-shing's Hui Xian Real Estate Investment Trust was priced at the lowest end of the expected range of 5.24-5.58 Yuan per share, raising 10.48 billion Yuan ($1.61 billion), said a person familiar with the situation, echoing other reports that the share sale had failed to spark huge interest.
The response may be a sign that Hong Kong -- a semi-autonomous Chinese territory which has been a test bed for Beijing's bid to internationalise the currency -- may struggle to become a trading hub for the Yuan.
The IPO opened for sale in Hong Kong last week, in a landmark deal many hoped would help set the Yuan on the path to becoming a global currency, challenging the US dollar's dominance.
The offer saw the trust sell two billion units, or 40 percent of the property firm.
On Wednesday, underwriters of the property trust -- BOC International, Citic Securities and HSBC -- priced the IPO at the bottom of the range, a week before shares start trading in Hong Kong, the source said.
The institutional tranche of the offering was fully subscribed, the source added, while a 20 percent tranche of the offering set aside for retail investors was 2.5 times subscribed.
China in 2009 approved using the Yuan to settle cross-border trade with Hong Kong, and Beijing has twice issued Yuan-denominated bonds in the financial hub over the past year.
Yuan deposits in Hong Kong surged to 407.7 billion Yuan at the end of February, up from 370.6 billion Yuan in January, as investors bet on an appreciation in the Chinese currency.
Hui Xian's listing plan comes a month after Li, Hong Kong's richest man, raised $5.5 billion from a Singapore listing of Hutchison Port Holdings Trust, which controls deepwater ports in China and Hong Kong.
The REIT is tied to the Oriental Plaza, a sprawling 100,000 square metre (1.1 million square foot) facility in Beijing's prime Wangfujing Street which includes a mall that commands some of the city's highest rental rates.
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