Travel retail giant China Tourism Group Duty Free has raised $2.1bn in a downsized Hong Kong share offer, as a sweeping Covid-19 lockdown in the tropical island province known as “China’s Hawaii” wreaked havoc on the company’s biggest market.
The world’s largest retailer of tax-exempt wine, cosmetics and luxury goods priced 102.8mn shares at HK$158 (US$20.14) each, coming in well below a maximum offer price of HK$165.5 and marking a discount of more than 27 per cent on the closing price of the duty-free group’s Shanghai-listed shares on Thursday.
That reduction also came as CTG’s Shanghai stock has dropped almost 10 per cent over the past month. The company, which has a near-monopoly on the Chinese market, also sells tax-exempt goods domestically.