Firm's Hong Kong office closed two Hong Kong IPOs for Haitian and SCUD over the holiday season

 

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Hong Kong, January 2, 2007 - Morrison & Foerster's Hong Kong office completed two initial public offerings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE) for Haitian International Holdings and SCUD Group on successive days.  The firm represented BNP and UBS as global coordinators in the Haitian listing and Cazenove Asia in the SCUD deal.  The SCUD and the Haitian IPOs closed on December 21 and 22, 2006 and raised US$67.5 million and US$230 million, respectively (before exercise of the greenshoe options).

The Hong Kong Office's Managing Partner and lead partner on the Haitian IPO, Ven Tan said, "It's rare to see a firm have two IPOs close in the same week, especially with the extensive work that's involved in the listing process. To execute two simultaneous listings you need a committed and quality team handling the transaction and we definitely have that here."

According to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Clearings and Limited (HKEx), as of December 20, 2006, a record high of HK$325.9 billion equity capital was raised this year for IPOs.   The total will certainly increase with the closing of both Haitian and SCUD IPOs.

Tien-yo Chao, lead partner on the SCUD IPO believes that the one major reason for this record high is the increase of listings from Mainland companies, against the background of a sustained robust equity market.   "There continues to be a high level of interest from PRC-based companies to pursue an IPO in Hong Kong – SCUD and Haitian are just a few of the many examples we've seen this year."

Haitian International Holdings is the world's leading manufacturer of plastic injection machines.  The company is based in China's Zhejiang province and has production facilities in Guangzhou, Ningbo, and Wuxi.  The machinery is sold to 24 provinces in the mainland and to more than 80 countries overseas.  The Haitian IPO team was led by partner Ven Tan from Morrison & Foerster's Hong Kong office.

SCUD Group Limited is one of the largest mobile phone Li-ion rechargeable battery manufacturers in China.  This Fujian-based company is also one of the most reputable household mobile phone battery brands in China with an extensive retail distribution network throughout the Mainland.   Hong Kong-based partner, Tien-yo Chao, led the SCUD listing.