Atour IPO and its successful debut in the US.
Underwriters: BofA Securities, Inc., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities Limited, and CMB International Capital Limited.
Atour Lifestyle Holding Ltd is a hotel chain operator based in Shanghai, China. They run 834 hotels across 151 cities in China. Last year, Atour attempted to raise $305 million in its US IPO, but it was forced to postpone the plans due to China’s restrictions on foreign listings. As China eased some of the rules, Atour resubmitted its application to list on Nasdaq in September. The IPO went pretty well last Thursday: listed for $11 per share and collected $52mn in total. The purpose of this IPO is to expand their company size as they believe there will be a big amount of demand for domestic travel as China cut some of Covid-policies. It was the biggest IPO since AMTD Digital Inc in July. On its first trade day (last Friday), the price per share rose to $15.5, marking a 41%increse, breaking a pause in Chinese listings and becoming the latest reopening stock to be propelled by Beijing’s move to loosen certain Covid restrictions. The IPO also coincides with growing optimism that the long-running audit dispute between China and the United States may be resolved. US audit authorities concluded their initial round of on-site inspections of Chinese businesses earlier this month ahead of schedule, a sign of advancement in the carefully monitored process to stop the delisting. Market trend in China is sluggish–only 15 Chinese and Hong Kong companies will list on the US markets in 2022, and the IPO of Atour indicates a positive sign of the market recovery.
