By Scott Murdoch and Donny Kwok
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Shares in Chinese hospital cloud software firm Neusoft Xikang slumped nearly 35% in the company’s Hong Kong trading debut on Thursday, as sentiment towards some new share sales remained weak.
The company raised $81.5 million in its initial public offering (IPO) last week and priced the shares at HK$4.76 each, the bottom end of the price range flagged to investors.
Neusoft Xikang opened down 22.4% and sold off sharply early in the Hong Kong trading session on Thursday.
Investor demand for the share sale was weak, with retail shareholders not taking up their full entitlement in the deal, according to the company’s Hong Kong Stock Exchange filings.
The institutional portion of the deal was only covered 1.15 times, which is considered weak demand during an IPO.
Separately, Chinese AI startup firm Beijing Fourth Paradigm opened 13.4% higher at HK$63.10 per share in its Hong Kong trading debut on Thursday.
The firm raised $151 million in its IPO and also priced its shares at the low point of the price range.
Beijing Fourth Paradigm is on the U.S. entity list, which means U.S. suppliers are barred from shipping U.S. technology to the company unless they can procure a hard-to-obtain licence from the Commerce Department.
Retail demand for Beijing Fourth Paradigm was considered stronger than usual with that tranche 11.4 times covered, according to its filings.
($1 = 7.8238 Hong Kong dollars)
(Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Sydney and Donny Kwok in Hong Kong; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Lincoln Feast)