CVC-backed HKBN IPO prices at top of range, raises $750m

The company sold 645 million shares at HK$9 apiece, the top end of its indicative range. HKBN's private equity backers - which also include Singapore's GIC Private and fund-of-funds AlpInvest - will collectively raise $710 million from the float, according to IFR.

CVC will see its 70.7% stake fall to 14.4%, assuming the overallotment option is not exercised, while GIC's holding will go down to 11.3% to 9.9%. It is not yet clear how many shares AlpInvest - which holds currently holds 8.1% - will sell.

The IPO launched on February 24 after about 27% of the offering had been pre-sold to cornerstone investor Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) for $200 million. The offering also managed to pull in about 40 anchor investors, including hedge funds and long-only funds.

CVC bought HKBN from Hong Kong Television Network (then City Telecom) in early 2012 for HK$4.87 billion. The PE firm subsequently sold a $40 million stake to GIC and a $29 million stake to AlpInvest.

HKBN is the number two internet service provider in Hong Kong. When CVC invested, the company had already increased its number of subscribers two-fold over the previous five years, from 683,000 in 2007 to 1.3 million by 2012.

During the holding period CVC has introduced a number of initiatives to grow the business, including expanding the firm's Wi-Fi coverage to 15,000 hot spots across Hong Kong and the bolt-on acquisition of Y5Zone.

HKBN is scheduled to commence trading on March 12. Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and UBS are joint sponsors and joint global coordinators for the IPO, with CLSA and HSBC also acting as joint bookrunners.

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• Topics
• Infrastructure
• Exits
• Greater China
• Technology
• Infrastructure
• CVC Capital Partners
• AlpInvest Partners N.V.
• GIC Private
• Exit
• IPO
• Hong Kong (China)
• Technology