Published on : 08/12/2020 – 13:02Modified : 08/12/2020 – 13:00
–
Hong Kong (AFP)
Shares of JD Heatlh, a subsidiary of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, soared 56% on Tuesday for its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with investors betting on the growth of digital health services in favor of the pandemic.
The title, offered at 70.58 Hong Kong dollars, closed at 110 HKD (+ 56%), after taking up to 75% in the session, which briefly valued at 42 billion euros this company which is the leading platform in China for home medicine delivery and remote health services via smartphone.
JD Health has raised a total of 26.5 billion HKD (3.41 billion USD, 2.9 billion EUR). It is the largest stock exchange transaction in the history of the health sector in Asia and the largest IPO since the start of the year on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The company says it was the first to offer online appointments in China for tests for the new coronavirus.
In the midst of the pandemic, its turnover jumped in the first half to 8.8 billion yuan (1.12 billion euros). This is 76% more than last year at the same time, according to figures from JD Health.
According to its general manager, JD Health receives more than 100,000 people a day and at the height of the epidemic in China received up to 150,000. According to him, it has 65,000 doctors and more than 72 million patients.
Long accustomed to turning to the United States to raise funds, large Chinese companies are now increasingly choosing the national places of Hong Kong or Shanghai, in a context of commercial, technological and political rivalry with Washington.
– Hong Kong still attractive –
Thus JD.com, listed on the Nasdaq since 2014, made a second IPO last June but in Hong Kong, raising some 3.5 billion euros.
Last year already, Alibaba, main competitor of JD.com and also listed in the United States, had raised the considerable sum of 12.9 billion dollars in Hong Kong.
However, the Chinese regime put a stop to Alibaba’s ambitions in early November by suspending the listing of its subsidiary Ant Group at the last moment in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Ant Group, world number one in online payment, was to raise an amount never seen for an IPO in the history of finance: $ 34.4 billion, or 27.4 billion euros.
But Beijing seems to have taken a dim view of the growing power of online finance companies, which tend to break free from prudential rules imposed on traditional banks.
JD Health was the first technology company to go public in Hong Kong since this affair and the Hong Kong market thus confirms that it remains attractive.
“This is a sign that the heart of finance is moving east in a strong way,” tweeted Brian Tycango, analyst for Stansberry Research.
The health subsidiary of JD.com competitor Alibaba more than doubled its stock market valuation in Hong Kong and Ping An Good Doctor saw its valuation climb by more than 50% during the pandemic.
This IPO has brought the amount of IPOs in Hong Kong to more than US $ 25 billion since the start of the year, which augurs well for the best year for the market since 2010, according to the financial information company Refinitiv.
© 2020 AFP
–
