The debut of Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls is seen as part of Hong Kong's resurgence as an initial public offerings hub, following stock flotations by Chinese battery giant CATL and drug developer Jiangsu Hengrui this year.

Sanhua shares were sold at the high end of their marketed range, at HK$22.53, but slipped more than seven percent to HK$20.95 at the start of Monday trading.

The company reported 27.9 billion yuan (US$3.9 billion) in revenue last year and said it is the world's largest maker of refrigeration and air-conditioning control components, with 48 factories worldwide.

The firm listed automakers including Volkswagen, BYD and Mercedes-Benz as partners, and was previously reported to be a supplier of thermal management parts for Tesla.

Sanhua has signalled interest in China's growing robotics sector and said in its Hong Kong prospectus that some of the funds raised would go to researching "key components of bionic robots".

The proceeds will also be used to enhance production capabilities, including in countries such as Thailand and Vietnam, and increasing production automation, Sanhua said.

Hong Kong suffered a lengthy slump in IPOs since 2020, with Chinese mega-companies pausing their listing plans in light of Beijing's regulatory crackdown.

But the Chinese finance hub's fortunes improved following the $4 billion debut of Chinese appliance maker Midea last September.

CATL last month raised US$4.6 billion in Hong Kong in the world's biggest IPO this year.

Over the past month, Chinese firms Foshan Haitian and Jiangsu Hengrui each raised more than US$1 billion in their Hong Kong debuts.

The Hong Kong stock exchange said it is processing nearly 140 listing applications as of the end of May.

Proceeds from IPOs and additional share sales in Hong Kong have reached US$26.5 billion as of June, compared with US$3.8 billion over the same period last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

hol/je/fox

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