The old saying “One man’s trash can be another man’s treasure” certainly seems pertinent for drug firm Luye Pharma (HKEx: 2186), which has found a receptive audience in Hong Kong for its newly listed shares. The company’s high valuation and strong trading debut contrast sharply with its performance during a previous life as a listed company in Singapore, where it was ignored by investors before privatizing in 2012.
Some analysts are saying Luye’s move could mark the start of a wave of similar re-listings for “China orphans” — Chinese firms that listed in New York or Singapore, only to see their shares languish due to lack of investor interest. But I would caution that Hong Kong investors are quite sophisticated and will still be looking for firms with strong growth potential — a quality that was lacking in many of the New York and Singapore-listed firms that privatized over the last 2 years. Read Full Post…
I’ll start this post with a major disclaimer, since one of my main reasons is simple sentimentality for writing about the newly announced buyout of New York-listed hospital operator Chindex (Nasdaq: CHDX) by a unit of the aggressive Fosun Group. When I first arrived in Beijing in 1987 as recent college graduate, I worked briefly in Chindex’s Beijing offices, which at the time were in the old Xiyuan hotel near the Beijing zoo. Since then, the company has transformed from its early days as an importer of medical and industrial equipment to its current focus on building and operating hospitals and clinics. Along the way it also made an IPO, and has quietly grown into a company with a market value of nearly $300 million. Read Full Post…
It seems appropriate that 2 more longtime-listed Chinese companies are bowing out of New York as we head into the final days of 2013, with word that shareholders have approved plans to privatize telecoms software maker AsiaInfo-Linkage (Nasdaq: ASIA) and drugmaker Simcere Pharmaceutical (NYSE: SCR). AsiaInfo was the more lively of these 2 de-listing stories, with a narrow majority of shareholders approving a buy-out offer after several months of protest from others who thought the price was too low. Meantime, Simcere’s looming privatization raises the question of what’s next for this neglected company, whose foreign partners include Bristol-Myers Squbb (NYSE: BMY) and Merck (NYSE: MRK). Read Full Post…
The end of life as a public company is fast approaching for telecoms software maker AsiaInfo-Linkage (Nasdaq: ASIA), marking the end of a long chapter for one of China’s first technology firms to list overseas. A newly announced special meeting will see AsiaInfo shareholders vote on a plan to privatize the company, whose shares have been ignored for years now by western investors. More broadly speaking, AsiaInfo’s looming buyout represents the challenges that smaller China tech firms face as they struggle to be noticed by western investors.Read Full Post…
