China Galaxy rides bull market with share sale

Retail investors get the largest allocation of paper in Guotai Junan's flotation on the back of strong oversubscription ratios.

Following several large private equity sell-downs in Hong Kong there are signs that block sales are taking a breather.

The Chinese water supplier comes to market at a time of severe drought near its base in southwestern China, and even together with a lower-than-average IPO valuation, demand from investors isn't overwhelming.

Three brokers, including Hong Kong’s largest online brokerage Futu, have been heavily penalised by Chinese regulators, in an effort to clean up market misconduct and to curb illegal outflows.

The broker's frozen client accounts are held by an entity suspected to be involved in a fraudulent scheme to create a false or artificial appearance of demand for shares in an IPO, the SFC said.

The Galaxy Orientis fund has raised $520m out of a $1bn target from China Investment Corporation, Indonesia Investment Authority and State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The PE fund is eyeing investments across the Asean-China corridor.