For investment bankers in Hong Kong, June 19 will be just another in a long line of very big days. On Friday morning, they will be ushered in, bank by bank, to meet in person – no Zoom meetings here – the senior management of Yum China.
At stake in the city’s latest big-ticket beauty parade is one of a handful of global coordinator spots on Yum’s secondary listing. Bankers tip the Hong Kong sale to raise north of $2 billion, generating millions of dollars in fees.
A spokesman for Goldman Sachs, which is sponsoring the stock sale, declined to comment.
Beijing-based CICC is likely to be named a joint global coordinator, leaving one and possibly two roles on the IPO syndicate up for grabs.
Taken in isolation, the stock offering could be seen as just another sign of the return to form of Hong Kong’s capital markets, as the initial wave of the Covid pandemic ebbs.
But there is more to the sale than meets the eye.
Yum China is one of 251 mainland firms with a primary listing in the United States.
