Haitong To Raise $1.68 Billion In World’s Biggest IPO In 2012: Report

Haitong Securities Co. (SHA: 600837), China's second-largest brokerage by assets, raised HK$13 billion ($1.7 billion) in the largest public offering in the world so far this year, media reports said Friday.

Haitong, which is already listed on the Shanghai stock exchange, is selling 1.23 billion new shares at HK$10.60 apiece, near the bottom of a range marketed to investors, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The shares were originally offered at HK$10.48 to HK$11.19 each.

The pricing of the IPO represents a 16.6 percent discount to Haitong's closing share price in Shanghai on Friday. The firm will list on the Hong Kong stock exchange on April 27.

Haitong has been a rare bright spot for the widely depressed global equity capital markets, as investors grew more concerned about Chinese growth, which slowed to 8.1 percent in the first quarter of the year, as well as the European debt crisis and the U.S. economy.

The brokerage firm postponed a $1.7 billion listing in December due to market volatility. It marketed its Hong Kong offering in December at a 2012 price-to-book ratio of 1.17 to 1.32 times, according to Reuters.

Haitong posted profit of 3.28 billion yuan ($520.3 million) in 2011, on revenue of 10.86 billion yuan, according to the offering prospectus.

The company follows rival Chinese brokerage house Citic Securities (HKG: 6030) in listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Last October, Citic raised $1.7 billion through its own listing, the New York Times reported.

Other companies to raise money in the public markets this year include the Dutch cable operator Ziggo NV and the Swiss trade and marketing company DKSH, which raised a combined $2 billion earlier this year, according to the New York Times.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), Credit Suisse AG (NYSE: CS), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) and Haitong's own Haitong International are acting as joint global coordinators on the listing.

Shares of Haitong Securities Co. (SHA:600837) rose 2.38 percent, to $10.33 in Friday's trading.