Weekly News Wrap: Haidilao deemed worst-performing HKEX stock; Qiandama picks banks for Hong Kong IPO

And Singapore’s GIC joins the consortium bidding for a UK-based Morrisons takeover.

From Bloomberg

Whilst Chinese technology giants have been recently stealing the headlines when it comes to stocks in Hong Kong, the biggest loser in the market is a popular hotpot chain.

Shares of Haidilao International Holding have plunged 32% over five days, turning them into this year's worst performer on the Hang Seng Index. The route comes as the company issued a first-half profit warning on Sunday, citing higher expenses due to new restaurant openings and negative impact from the pandemic.

This week's losses have exacerbated a selloff in Haidilao, best known for its string of Chinese spicy soup restaurants. The stock is now down 66% from a February peak, a sharp reversal following an almost 250% surge in the last two calendar years.

Read more here.

From Bloomberg

Chinese fresh food chain operator, Qiandama, has picked China International Capital and Morgan Stanley to work on its planned Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), according to people familiar with the matter.

The Guangzhou-based company is working with the banks on the IPO that could raise about $500m, said the people who asked not to be identified as the information is private. The share sale could take place as soon as the end of this year, they said.

Qiandama, which means Auntie Qian, is close to completing a pre-IPO funding round, according to one of the people. The company had planned to raise about $310m (RMB2b) in a new round.

Qiandama, established in 2012, sells products including vegetables, fruits, fresh meat, and eggs through its franchised stores, according to its website.

Read more here.

From Reuters

Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, has joined the Fortress-led private equity consortium making a recommended offer for the British supermarket group Morrisons, the companies said.

Britain's fourth-largest supermarket has agreed to a takeover led by SoftBank-owned Fortress Investment Group, valuing it at $8.8b (£6.3b). Two other private equity groups, CD&R and Apollo, have also shown interest.

However, the Fortress-led group may still have more work to do after Morrisons' biggest shareholder, Silchester, said it was not inclined to support the deal because there was little in the offer that could not be achieved as a listed company.

GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, holds around 0.21% of the issued share capital of Morrisons.

Read more here.