Alibaba Health raises $1.3 billion in Hong Kong’s biggest secondary share sale in 5 years

By Scott Murdoch

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Chinese healthcare services firm Alibaba Health Information Technology <0241.HK> has raised nearly $1.3 billion in Hong Kong’s largest follow-on share sale in five years, according a statement from the company on Wednesday.

The company will issue 499 million new shares priced at $HK20.05 apiece, an 8% discount to the stock’s HK$21.80 closing price on the Hong Kong exchange on Tuesday.

The final price was at the low end of the flagged HK$20.05 to HK$20.50 range when the deal was launched earlier on Tuesday.

Alibaba Health, an arm of internet retail giant Alibaba Group , said the cash would be used to develop the company’s pharmaceutical e-commerce business, which has benefited from the growth of the online service sector during the coronavirus pandemic this year.

The transaction was the largest follow-on share sale on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 2015, and the biggest ever health care deal, according to a term sheet reviewed by Reuters.

The size of the deal was increased by 25% during the institutional bookbuild overnight following high demand from investors.

(Reporting by Scott Murdoch; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)