Improving market sentiment, renewed interest in the Chinese internet sector and a realistic valuation enabled Tencent to price at the top end of its price range on Friday. Under the lead management of Goldman Sachs, the instant messaging company priced a 420.16 million share deal at HK$3.70, raising HK$1.55 billion $199.3 million.
This represents 15.5 times earnings based on the mid-point of syndicate 2004 profit forecasts spanning Rmb400 million to RMB450 million $48.38 million to $54.43 million.
When Tencent first set out on pre-marketing, global sentiment was extremely weak and the company was careful to test the waters with an enormously wide...
