Belle International Files for Hong Kong IPO to Raise $1 Billion

HONG KONG, China — Chinese language footwear retailer Belle Worldwide filed plans on Thursday to spin off its sportswear enterprise by way of a Hong Kong preliminary public providing, a deal which two sources with information of the matter mentioned might elevate $1 billion.

The corporate goals to checklist the unit Topsports Worldwide Holdings Ltd, a big Chinese language distributor and retail accomplice of international manufacturers Nike Inc and Adidas, within the second half of the yr, mentioned the sources.

The transfer comes two years after a consortium led by Hillhouse Capital Group and CDH Investments took Belle non-public in a $6.8 billion deal accomplished in July 2017, as conventional retailers battled on-line competitors.

TopSports didn’t instantly reply to Reuters’ request for touch upon its IPO plans. The sources declined to be named as they weren’t authorised to speak to the media.

The Hong Kong market is starting to see an increase in IPO exercise, with the world’s greatest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev more likely to launch the Hong Kong float of its Asian enterprise, which might elevate at the least $5 billion, subsequent month.

Hong Kong is lagging behind the New York Inventory Change and Nasdaq in elevating capital by way of IPOs this yr, with $8.06 billion raised as of mid-June in contrast with a mixed $28.2 billion raised by the US exchanges, Refinitiv knowledge confirmed.

Established in 1991, Belle produces footwear underneath its personal manufacturers reminiscent of Belle and Staccato, and distributes different international labels reminiscent of Puma, Converse, Timberland and The North Face.

Belle’s unit Topsports is the most important sportswear retailer in China by way of retail gross sales worth, with a 15.9 % market share in 2018, the corporate mentioned in its IPO prospectus, citing marketing consultant Frost & Sullivan.

Topsports’ income elevated 22.4 % final yr to ¥26.5 billion (round $3.9 billion), whereas gross revenue rose practically 18 % to ¥11 billion (round $1.6 billion), it mentioned within the prospectus.

It plans to make use of a few of the IPO proceeds for expertise, hiring workers, buying gear and upgrading its instantly operated shops. Its nationwide retail community included 8,343 such shops as of end-February.

Financial institution of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley are the joint sponsors for the float.