Shares of insurer FWD Group opened flat at HK$38 each in its Hong Kong trading debut on Monday, in line with its issuance price.
The insurer, controlled by billionaire Richard Li, raised $442 million in its IPO by selling 91.34 million shares. The deal valued the company at $6.14 billion.
FWD shares were trading at HK$38.10 at 0210 GMT. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.23%, after opening down 0.4%
The retail portion of FWD’s IPO was 37 times oversubscribed, according to regulatory filings, while the institutional tranche was 2.3 times covered.
The IPO was FWD’s third attempt to go public after it initially aimed for a New York IPO in 2021 to raise $2-$3 billion.
The insurance group shelved the plan due to delays in obtaining U.S. regulatory approval. FWD faced questions from the U.S. regulators on its mainland China ties, Reuters reported citing sources, and had been treated by authorities as a Chinese business rather than a Hong Kong entity.
FWD then targeted a Hong Kong IPO in 2022 but put those plans on hold due to volatile global financial markets at the time.
The company made a $10 million net profit in 2024, according to its prospectus, versus a $717 million loss the previous year.
Li, the son of Hong Kong’s richest person Li Ka-shing, founded FWD in 2013 and controls it via investment arm Pacific Century Group, which has interests in the technology, media, telecoms and property as well as financial sectors.
Reuters
