Top Glove delays HK listing by few months after US ban on products

[KUALA LUMPUR] The world's largest rubber glove maker said the US ban on its Malaysian-made gloves will delay its share sale plan in Hong Kong by a few months.

The US move is only temporary and the Hong Kong listing is for the long term, Top Glove chairman Lim Wee Chai said at a briefing on Wednesday. The company is working with its advisor to get the Hong Kong IPO approved by the regulator, said Lim Cheong Guan, its executive director.

Top Glove, which is seeking a listing in Hong Kong to bolster its profile with foreign investors, has been under pressure to improve its labour practices after the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) late March ordered personnel at US ports of entry to seize its gloves made in the South-east Asian nation.

The company said in April it has resolved all issues of forced labour. It said today it is working closely with the US CBP to speedily resolve the withhold order on its products. There have been no issues raised by the US CBP, said its managing director Lee Kim Meow.

The firm cut the size of its share sale in Hong Kong by nearly half of its earlier target in April to minimise dilution to existing shareholders. The fundraising target was reduced to RM4.22 billion (S$1.36 billion) from RM7.77 billion previously.

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