Top Glove hires banks for potential US$1b Hong Kong listing: sources

Kuala Lumpur

MALAYSIAN rubber glove maker Top Glove, riding a wave of demand generated by the coronavirus outbreak, has hired banks to arrange a Hong Kong listing that could raise at least US$1 billion, two sources said.

Citigroup, China International Capital Corporation (CICC) and UBS will manage the listing, said the two sources, who have direct knowledge of the matter but can't be named as the information is not yet public.

Another source, also declining to be named as the process is private, said the world's largest glove maker could be more ambitious and look to raise as much as US$2 billion.

The company, which is already listed in Malaysia and Singapore, in a filing to the Kuala Lumpur exchange on Monday said that it is evaluating a dual primary listing on Hong Kong's stock exchange.

The evaluation is at a preliminary stage and the structure has not been finalised.

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"(The proposed listing), if undertaken, will enable Top Glove to be present in a larger, more active and liquid stock exchange, enlarge and diversify its investor base, and also provide an alternate and larger fund- raising platform to support the company's future growth strategy," it said.

Citigroup, CICC and UBS declined to comment.

Top Glove reported record quarterly profit last month, saying that it had seen "supernormal" demand for its disposable gloves during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It had said that it was talking to bankers about listing in Hong Kong within six to nine months.

The glove maker's shares finished Tuesday trading five Singapore cents or 1.7 per cent higher at S$2.98. REUTERS