Citic Securities Co may raise about HK$13 billion ($1.7 billion) selling shares below the midpoint of a marketed price range in a Hong Kong stock sale, Bloomberg reported, citing two people with knowledge of the matter said.
The underwriters for Shanghai-listed Citic Securities advised the company to sell shares at HK $13.30 a piece. The company has not taken any final decision with regards to pricing.
The shares were earlier offered at HK $12/84 to HK$15.20, before underwriters raised the low-end of the range to HK$13.30, the reports stated.
China’s biggest publicly traded brokerage, is making an attempt at the biggest share sale in HongKong since Italian fashion retailer Prada SpA raised $2.5 billion in June.
The city’s HangSeng Index has gone down 16% since Prada’s initial public offering was priced, and stock sales have dwindled amid Europe’s escalating sovereign debt crisis.
XCMG Construction Machinery Co cancelled plans for a $1.1 billion share sale over the weekend, when rival construction equipment maker Sany Heavy Industries Co delayed a $3.3 billion offering last week.
The company will take a final decision on pricing today. Singapore-based Temasek Holdings Pte and Kuwait Investment Authority are among so-called cornerstone investors who agreed to buy $850 million of shares, as per the prospectus released on September 21.
The cornerstone investors are guaranteed shares in the offering in return for a pledge not to sell their stock immediately.
Headquartered in Shenzhen, CITIC Securities provides security related services like trading, underwriting and sponsoring, proprietary trading, asset management, securities investment advisory services and other businesses.
The company was taken public and listed on Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2003. As of the end of 2009, CITIC Group, the largest substantial shareholder of the company holds a 23.43% stake in te company.
The company has formed ties with China CITIC Bank, CITIC Trust and other subsidiaries of CITIC Group, forming a conglomerate providing cross-border, one-stop financial services to its customers in India and overseas.
