HONG KONG – FWD Group Holdings, the Asian insurer backed by billionaire Richard Li, has refiled an software for a Hong Kong preliminary public providing (IPO) because it now weighs a list subsequent yr amid market volatility.
The renewed submitting will grant extra time for the insurer to proceed with preparations for a share sale within the metropolis. The firm has been looking for to lift about US$1 billion in an IPO, which may happen as early as the primary quarter, though the ultimate dimension and timing have not been formally determined, Bloomberg News reported this month.
FWD’s worth of recent business rose 24.6 per cent year-on-year to US$405 million within the first half of 2022, on a continuing alternate fee foundation, in accordance with the most recent submitting on Tuesday (Sep 13). While the corporate reported an adjusted lack of US$333 million for the 6 months ended Jun 30, its working revenue earlier than tax jumped about 111 per cent to US$200 million from a yr in the past, a separate assertion exhibits.
FWD was initially trying to go public within the US, the place it had filed for an IPO that might have raised as a lot as US$3 billion. The plan hit a snag amid US regulators’ rising unease over the lengthy arm of the Chinese authorities after a post-IPO probe of Didi Global kicked off a wide-ranging crackdown on overseas-listed corporations.
The insurer in December switched its itemizing venue to Hong Kong and first utilized for a share sale within the Asian monetary hub 2 months later. However, the corporate in May determined to postpone because of weak market situations. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group, China Merchants International and JPMorgan Chase & Co are the joint sponsors of the Hong Kong IPO.
FWD earlier raised greater than US$1.6 billion in non-public placements with buyers together with an insurer backed by Apollo Global Management. The placements have been set to worth the corporate at about US$9 billion, which might indicate about 1.2 to 1.3 instances its embedded worth, individuals conversant in the matter mentioned on the time. BLOOMBERG
