Budweiser offers shares at HK$27 each, handing Hong Kong a US$5 billion IPO at a time of unprecedented civil strife
- The Asia-Pacific arm of world’s largest brewer previously postponed its listing in July
- Budweiser Brewing Company APAC’s IPO is the world’s second-biggest sale of the year after Uber Technologies
Budweiser Brewing Company APAC has revived its stock sale with a lower valuation after disposing of its Australian brewery assets, handing Hong Kong’s stock exchange the second-largest global initial public offering (IPO) of 2019 at a time when the city is going through its worst political crisis.
Budweiser, the Asia-Pacific unit of the world’s biggest beer brewer, has priced its shares at HK$27 each, at the bottom of a price range of between HK$27 and HK$30 in its US$5 billion stock offer, its parent Anheuser-Busch InBev said in a statement. The offering was increased to 1.45 billion shares because of demand, with an overallotment option to issue another 217.7 million shares, the company said.
If the overallotment is fully exercised, the listing would raise US$5.75 billion in gross proceeds. Anheuser-Busch InBev would retain 87.2 per cent of the Budweiser business following the IPO.
Still, Budweiser’s discounted offer would make it the world’s second-largest sale of 2019, after Uber Technologies’ US$8.1 billion IPO in May, according to Refinitiv’s data, handing Hong Kong a much-needed boost to catch up with New York and Nasdaq in their annual race for the crown as the global fundraising capital.
