C’estbon water bottler gets nod for US$1 billion Hong Kong IPO, medals for Olympic teams
- China Resources Beverage (CRB) has been approved by the listing committee of the Hong Kong stock exchange to hold an initial public stock offering
The bottler of one of China’s bestselling water brands is enjoying double happiness, as its fundraising plan in Hong Kong received the go-ahead, while the table tennis teams it sponsors have dominated the winners’ podium at the Paris Olympics.
China Resources Beverage (CRB), the country’s second-largest water bottler and producer of such brands as Afternoon tea and Fire coffee, has been approved by the listing committee of the Hong Kong stock exchange for an initial public offering (IPO), according to a source who helped arrange the deal. The IPO could raise up to US$1 billion, a source said.
At the same time, the Chinese national table tennis teams – sponsored by China Resources’ bottled-water brand C’estbon – are sweeping up the gold and silver medals in Paris. Chen Men and Sun Yingsha won the gold and silver medals in the women’s singles last Saturday, a day before Fan Zhendong won gold in the men’s singles. The national team will compete in the men’s team final on Friday night and the women’s team final on Saturday.
The Olympic medals and the IPO approval offer a leg up for the bottler of C’estbon, a French word that means “it’s good”, as it competes against its bigger rival Nongfu Spring. The IPO will also be a much-needed boost to Hong Kong’s tepid IPO market. The city, the top IPO market worldwide seven times between 2009 and 2019, ranked only 13th in the first half of this year, according to data compiled by the London Stock Exchange Group’s Refinitiv unit.
A US$1 billion offer would make CRB Hong Kong’s largest IPO since August 2022, when China Tourism Group Duty Free sold US$2.3 billion of stock.
