PE-backed China Cinda prices HK IPO at top of range - report
China Cinda Asset Management, a company originally set up to absorb non-performing loans (NPLs) from China’s Big Four state-owned banks, has priced its IPO at the top end of the indicative range and is on course to raise $2.5 billion. It will be Asia’s biggest public offering of the year.
Cinda, which is majority-owned by China's Ministry of Finance, will sell 5.3 billion shares at HK$3.58 apiece, valuing the company at 1.30x its 2013 book value. According to Reuters, the retail tranche of the offering was oversubscribed 160 times.
Norges Bank Investment Management and Oaktree Capital Management are two of 10 cornerstone investors for the IPO. Others include Och-Ziff Capital Management, Farallon Capital Management, Rongtong Capital Management, Ping An Insurance's asset management arm, Shandong State-owned Assets Investment Holdings, and a unit of power firm Guangdong Yudean Group.
Separately, Oaktree has entered into a joint venture with Cinda that will see the two groups invest in distressed assets in China.
Cinda has several foreign strategic investors, following last year's $1.7 billion investment in the company by CITIC Capital, UBS and Standard Chartered alongside the National Council for Social Security Fund (NSSF). Boyu Capital is also understood to have invested in Cinda at some point.
Cinda was one of four asset management companies (AMCs) established in 1999 to absorb the banks' bad debts. It was tasked with managing NPLs at China Construction Bank specifically, which needed to be restructured and recapitalized ahead of its IPO.
Cinda is understood to have since accumulated a sizeable real estate portfolio by foreclosing on bad debts, as well as taking stakes in a wide range of companies through debt-for-equity swaps. It is headquartered in Beijing and has a network of 31 branches, nine first-tier subsidiaries and branches of the first-tier subsidiaries, with more than 18,000 employees.
The company announced that profit attributable to shareholders reached RMB4.06 billion ($667 million) for the six months ended June 2013, up 36% year-on-year. Total assets stood at RMB283.6 billion, an increase of 11% on December of last year.
More on Financials
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.