Sino-Ocean Land Holdings is the first of three Chinese developers expected to go public in Hong Kong in the coming month. It will also be the largest of the three and with a size of between $1.3 billion and $1.5 billion, the biggest IPO in Hong Kong since investment holding company Fosun International’s $1.48 billion IPO.

The initial plan was to do a deal of only about half the current size, but a combination of the company’s growing land bank and rising valuations at other property developers, pushed the size up.

This large an offering might seem something of a challenge but initial feedback from investors has been extremely positive.

To instill confidence among institutional investors and help create some early momentum in the book, 10 cornerstone investor groups have been signed up, although they will only take up between 16% and 18.5% of the total deal.

Among them are the Government Investment Corporation of Singapore, Henderson Land Development, China Life Insurance and hedge fund Och-Ziff, which will each invest $30 million. The other six will each buy $20 million worth of shares which gives $240 million to give it a running start.

Sino-Ocean has a strong position in the Beijing market, but investors are interested in its movement into the so called Pan-Bohai Rim. This area includes Beijing as well as major second tier cities Tianjin, Dalian and Shenyang in the northeast of the country.

This is expected to become the next zone in China to see substantial economic growth thanks to extensive government support.

The illustration? It comes from the Sino-Ocean site and is a sculpture/decoration in one of the company’s developments. I think. Am almost sure.
Source: FinanceAsia.com