SF Holding’s shares deliver flat trading debut in Hong Kong amid tepid market sentiments

SF Holding, regarded as China’s equivalent to FedEx, began trading in Hong Kong amid tepid sentiments, a precursor to a busy week of stock debuts that will add several billion of Hong Kong dollars to this year’s listing proceeds.

Trading under the 6936 code, SF shares changed hands at HK$34.30, unchanged from its initial public offering price when the market opened at 9.30am local time. Chairman and CEO Wang Wei struck the ceremonial gong to mark the company’ debut.

The opening price implies a premium to the company’s yuan-denominated shares of 14.27 yuan (US$1.97) on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Tuesday. Hong Kong’s benchmark index is trading near a two-month low.

The opening trading premium values the company’s Hong Kong-listed equity base at HK$6.7 billion based on its post-listing capital base of 195.5 million shares, according to its listing prospectus. SF Holding has about 4.82 billion A shares listed in Shenzhen.

SF Holding, whose main business is its SF Express courier service, raised HK$5.83 billion from its IPO. Several investment vehicles linked to Hong Kong billionaires took up stakes as cornerstone investors, including developer Sino Land and a company backed by the family of Henry Cheng Kar-shun of New World Development.