Two large Hong Kong IPOs drop in trading debut: China EV maker Leapmotor plunges, Onewo shares dip

Leapmotor and Onewo, among Hong Kong’s largest completed initial public offerings of the year, dropped on their first day of trade in the city on Thursday.

Chinese electric vehicle maker Leapmotor’s shares tumbled as much as 32% from its offer price of 48 Hong Kong dollars ($6.11) per share. It last traded 27.7% lower.

Shares of Onewo fell 7.9% from its offer price of 49.35 Hong Kong dollars ($6.29) per share in early trade, and was last 4.76% lower.

The moves come after the companies’ shares reportedly fell in grey market trading the previous day.

The broader Hang Seng index was last up 1.49%.

The retail tranche of shares for both initial public offerings were undersubscribed, according to their respective filings. Around 82% of Onewo’s shares for the local market were bought, and only 16% of Leapmotor were purchased, the filings said.

Unsold shares were allocated to international buyers.

Onewo, a subsidiary of property developer China Vanke, raised 5.6 billion Hong Kong dollars ($713.5 million), while Leapmotor raised 6.06 billion Hong Kong dollars ($771.7 million).

Data from the Hong Kong Exchange (HKEX) show there were 48 new listings in Hong Kong from January to August in 2022, raising a total of 56 billion Hong Kong dollars ($7.1 billion) – a steep drop from the same period in 2021, in which there were 69 new listings that raised 271.4 billion Hong Kong dollars ($34.6 billion).