China's CPIC boosts IPO market with $1.8 billion London listing

Shares of China Pacific Insurance Co rose on their London market debut yesterday, in a boost for a stock exchange link-up between Britain and China designed to improve investment and trade relations between the two countries.

CPIC said it had priced a US$1.8-billion listing of global depositary receipts at US$17.60 per share, making it the biggest listing on the London Stock Exchange this year so far.

At 1000 GMT, the GDRs were up 2 percent at US$17.96.

“The listing will support our expansion into new markets and facilitate the company in introducing high-quality investors around the world,” CPIC Chairman Kong Qingwei said.

The London-Shanghai Stock Connect scheme was launched in 2018 to allow Shanghai-listed companies to add a secondary listing in London and vice versa.

The idea was to have several British and Chinese companies using the scheme in the first couple of years. But CPIC is only the second to list on Stock Connect after Huatai Securities.