Legend Holdings, the Chinese investment group, has presold almost half its $2bn Hong Kong initial public offering to cornerstone investors, in a deal that will bring together assets ranging from PC manufacturing and fruit production to car rentals and dentistry.
More than 20 new cornerstone investors will join the company’s shareholding ranks, including electronic appliance chain Suning, Beijing Tourism Group, conglomerate Citic Group, and a bevy of Asia-based insurers. Together they will buy $950m worth of Legend stock, and will be subjected to a six-month lock in.
The group’s biggest existing shareholder is CAS Holdings, the investment arm of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which set up the group in 1984.