HONG KONG - The world's top initial public offering market has seen the impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak as a Chinese biotech firm decided to postpone investor meetings for its Hong Kong listing.
The decision, which could potentially delay the share sale, does not bode well for other companies sitting in the pipeline in Hong Kong. The Asia financial hub was the world's top listing venue last year with more than US$40 billion raised, thanks to the mega share sale by Alibaba Holdings Group. A number of high profile names including Yum China Holdings and Mongolia's state-owned coal miner Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi JSC. are expected to launch later this year.
Chinese firms accounted for 66 per cent of the total US$101.8 billion that was raised in listings in Asia last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Singapore's second-largest taxi company Trans-cab has also halted work on its second attempt to list because of the virus.