ESR Cayman delays US$1.4b Hong Kong IPO

The deal would value the company at US$6.2b.

Logistics property developer ESR Cayman has delayed what could have been one of Hong Kong’s biggest initial public offerings (IPOs) so far in 2019 amidst trade tension jitters, a report by Reuters revealed.

ESR Cayman, backed by private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC, was due to launch the IPO of as much as US$1.4b on 3 June. It could still open books for the deal depending on the market mood, the people with direct knowledge said, declining to be named because they were not authorised to speak on the matter.

The company’s IPO launch was due to mark a pick-up in listings in Hong Kong, which is lagging far behind its rival US exchanges in terms of capital-raising with just US$5.9b to its credit in 2019 compared with the combined US$26.9b raised by Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange, according to data from Refinitiv.

At the top end of ESR’s IPO price range, the deal would value the company at US$6.2b.

ESR manages a range of property-focused funds and vehicles, as well as its own directly held property investments.

Read the full report here.