Chinese nickel firm Lygend to raise $470 mln in Hong Kong IPO – sources

Nov 25 (Reuters) – Chinese nickel producer and trader Lygend Resources has priced shares at HK$15.80 apiece to raise $470m in its Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The Ningbo-based firm sold 232.54 million shares in the IPO, the fourth largest in Hong Kong so far in 2022. The final price was towards the bottom of a HK$15.60 to HK$19.96 range flagged when the deal was launched on Monday.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity as the information was not yet public.

Lygend could not immediately comment on the price of its shares.

The firm’s IPO comes against the backdrop of a bleak year for new share sales in Hong Kong, with $5.74 billion raised via IPOs so far in 2022 – the lowest in a decade – according to Refinitiv data. The biggest IPO fundraising so far this year has been CALB’s $1.28 billion issue.

Lygend, whose shares are due to start trading on Dec. 1, plans to use 56% of the proceeds for the development and construction of nickel production projects on Indonesia’s Obi Island.

The company says it is the world’s largest nickel product trader, and the largest in China in terms of nickel ore trading in 2021, with a market share of 26.8% in 2021. ($1 = 7.8120 Hong Kong dollars) (Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Sydney and Georgina Lee in Hong Kong; Additional reporting Gao Zhuo; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

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