Listing by MGM China Expected to Raised $1.5 Billion
A venture between MGM Resorts International and the daughter of a Hong Kong casino mogul looked set Friday to raise as much as $1.5 billion in a planned stock market listing, highlighting the strong appetite for stocks that have a large exposure to China. MGM China, whose main asset is a giant hotel and casino in the Chinese gambling hub of Macao, said Friday that it had priced the shares for its initial public offering at 15.34 Hong Kong dollars each, or $1.97, at the top of a previously announced price range.
With total proceeds of up to $1.5 billion, MGM China’s market debut will be one of the largest in Hong Kong so far this year. The offering takes total issuance volumes on the Hong Kong stock exchange since Jan. 1 to $18.9 billion, 215 percent more than the total raised during the period last year, according to Dealogic, and underscores the rapid growth the exchange has enjoyed in recent years.
Hong Kong was the No.1 market for initial public offerings in 2010. The offerings last year topped $52 billion, according to Thomson Reuters, easily outperforming the New York Stock Exchange’s total of $35 billion. Most of the activity in Hong Kong has been from Chinese companies going public. Increasingly, however, the city is also becoming a destination for non-Asian companies.