By Clare Jim and Scott Murdoch
HONG KONG/SYDNEY (Reuters) -Major property developer China Vanke Ltd said on Thursday it had raised HK$3.92 billion ($499.43 million) in a share placement in Hong Kong, in the first test of investor appetite towards a mainland developer share sale in 2023.
State-backed Vanke said in a filing it sold 300 million shares at HK$13.05 each. The price fell in the mid-range of an offer between HK$12.93 to HK$13.20 per share, according to the term sheets of the deal launched on Wednesday seen by Reuters.
The pricing was at a 6.12% discount to Vanke’s closing stock price of HK$13.90 on Wednesday. The shares dropped by as much as 5.3% to HK$13.16 in early trading on Thursday.
The Shenzhen-based developer said it intended to use 60% of the proceeds to repay its outstanding overseas debt financing, and the remaining to replenish working capital. It added it will not use the proceeds for new domestic residential development projects.
The share sale represented 13.6% of the enlarged H shares and 2.51% of the enlarged total share capital, including both shares issued in Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
CLSA and Citi are the placing agents of the share sale.
($1 = 7.8490 Hong Kong dollars)
(Reporting by Scott Murdoch and Clare Jim; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
