Prada Grapples With Hong Kong Slump as IPOs Drop on China

Prada SpA’s trading debut in Hong Kong just as the territory becomes one of this year’s worst- performing markets for initial public offerings may foreshadow a slowdown in IPOs by foreign companies. 

After selling shares near the low end of the targeted range for its $2.1 billion IPO last week, the Italian maker of Miu Miu handbags may be poised to fall when it lists tomorrow, over-the- counter trading shows. A decline by Prada would add to losses of $873 million for investors in the 31 Hong Kong IPOs this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

While Hong Kong has lured companies from Prada to Samsonite International SA seeking to tap the world’s fastest-growing major economy in China, their shares have retreated as concern about Chinese inflation sent the Hang Seng Index (HSI) to its worst slump in 2 1/2 years. Only one of the 16 companies that started trading this year after raising more than $100 million in a Hong Kong IPO has risen from its offer price, the lowest ratio among the 10 largest equity markets, Bloomberg data show.

Quote from Tim Loughran:

“The window of opportunity may be closing,” said Tim Loughran, a finance professor at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business in Notre Dame, Indiana. “The market is becoming less and less receptive.”

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This article also appeared in Bloomberg Businessweek and the San Francisco Chronicle.

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