Tencent-backed Yidu Tech surges 121% in Hong Kong debut

[HONG KONG] Yidu Tech, which offers artificial intelligence and big data products to the healthcare industry, saw its shares jump 121 per cent in its Hong Kong debut after a HK$4.12 billion (S$704.8 million) initial public offering (IPO) that met with overwhelming demand from investors.

Yidu Tech shares opened at HK$58.25, a massive jump from the IPO price of HK$26.30. The company sold about 156 million shares at the top of a marketed range.

The opening performance is the third-best for a Hong Kong IPO raising over US$500 million, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Only e-cigarette maker Smoore International Holdings last year and Alibaba.com - when it first listed in 2007 - have seen their shares jump by more on the open.

Yidu Tech is the latest example of a company soaring on its debut amid a frenzy of trading around IPOs, particularly in the tech space. In the US technology company Affirm Holdings almost doubled on its debut on Wednesday after raising US$1.2 billion.

Yidu Tech's IPO was hugely popular with retail investors, with demand for a whopping 1,634 times the shares initially reserved for them, the third-highest retail subscription rate for a Hong Kong IPO in the last 12 months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The positive reception shows retail buyers' appetite for IPOs remains unabated after last year, when individual investors piled into an equity rally and contributed to first-day pops by stocks.

Tech and healthcare emerged as particularly hot sectors, buoyed by the pandemic and the resulting stay-at-home trend. Biotech IPOs became extremely sought after in Hong Kong, with the city's legions of small-time traders crowding out institutional funds from some stock offerings.

Beijing-based Yidu had to increase the number of shares allocated to individual buyers to 78.2 million from the initial 15.6 million.

Yidu Tech's IPO attracted Tencent and seven other cornerstone investors who committed to buying about US$210 million of stock.

Goldman Sachs Group and China International Capital were joint sponsors for its offering.

BLOOMBERG