French cosmetics group L’Occitane has raised US$704 million from its Hong Kong initial public offering.
L’Occitane, which will be the first French company to list in the city, has sold 364.12 million shares at the top of its indicative price range of HK$12.88 to HK$15.08 per share.
The company’s shares in the public tranche were about 150 times oversubscribed since it began to receive subscriptions from retail investors on Monday, market sources said.
China Investment Corp (中國投資公司), China’s US$300 billion sovereign-wealth fund, invested US$50 million in the offering, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
The company, which is scheduled to list in Hong Kong on May 7, has the option of increasing the offer by 15 percent to raise up to US$810 million in total.
L’Occitane’s managing director Andre Hoffmann said in a video-conference on Sunday that it chose to list in the financial hub because the Asia-Pacific would be “a key growth driver” for its business in the coming years.
About 65 percent of the IPO proceeds will be earmarked for expanding the brand’s presence in high-growth emerging markets such as China, Brazil, Russia, India and Mexico, the company said.
It said it would also open new stores in established markets, including Japan and Germany.
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