World's largest pig breeder Muyuan flat in Hong Kong debut; Han's CNC jumps nearly 15%

By Yantoultra Ngui and Donny Kwok

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Shares of China's Muyuan Foods 2714.HK closed slightly higher in their Hong Kong trading debut on Friday, after the world's biggest pig breeder raised HK$10.7 billion ($1.4 billion) in a share sale that is the city's largest so far this year.

The firm's shares opened at HK$39 each, matching their offer price, and closed 3.9% higher at HK$40.52 after trading in a range of HK$38.98 to HK$41.72 with 40.59 million shares worth HK$1.63 billion changing hands.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI finished 1.2% lower.

The share sale is the largest in Hong Kong since Zijin Gold International's 2259.HK $3.5 billion listing in September.

"I expect the first-day gain to be limited, probably flat to low single digits," said Dickie Wong, executive director of research at uSMART Securities.

"Fundamentally it's still the clear industry leader with a huge scale advantage, but 2025 pork prices were weak and profit is expected to drop, so near-term earnings are under some pressure."

Muyuan traces its origins to a single pig farm launched in the mid-1990s and it was established as a company in 2000, according to its prospectus.

It has ranked first globally in hog farming by production capacity and hog sales volume for four consecutive years since 2021, the prospectus said, citing consultancy Frost & Sullivan.

For the nine months that ended in September, revenue rose 15.5% to 111.8 billion yuan ($16.1 billion). The company expects its 2025 profit to fall 12.2% to 17.8% from a year earlier as declines in hog prices squeezed margins.

Proceeds will be used to invest in research and development in areas including breeding, smart farming, nutrition management and biosecurity.

Cornerstone investors, led by Thailand's Charoen Pokphand Foods CPF.BK and Singapore's Wilmar International WLIL.SI, will buy about $685 million worth of shares, or around half the transaction.

Morgan Stanley MS.N, Citic Securities and Goldman Sachs GS.N are the deal's joint sponsors.

HAN'S CNC RIDING ON AI BOOM

Also Friday, Shenzhen Han's CNC Technology 3200.HK, a maker of printed circuit board equipment, opened 10.6% higher at HK$106, better than its HK$95.80 offer price, and ended up 14.8% at HK$110 after moving in a range of HK$105.1 to HK$116 with 13.1 million shares worth HK$1.46 billion changing hands.

It raised HK$4.83 billion ($618 million) from a share sale. CICC is acting as sole sponsor.

"Han's CNC is a pure-play PCB equipment stock, riding strong demand from AI servers and advanced boards," said Wong.

He added that growth momentum is solid and the shares may trade 10% to 20% above their offer price, but cautioned that valuations are high and equipment stocks are inherently cyclical.

Muyuan and Han's CNC are part of a wave of deals that has given the Hong Kong market its strongest start to a year in five years, with IPOs and secondary listings raising about $5.5 billion in January, the best since the $7.6 billion that was raised in January 2021, according to LSEG data.

Upcoming debuts include Chinese chipmakers Montage Technology 688008.SS and Axera Semiconductor, along with industrial automation equipment maker Wuxi Lead Intelligent Equipment 300450.SZ.

Swiss agricultural technology firm Syngenta Group is also targeting a Hong Kong listing that could raise as much as $10 billion, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

($1 = 7.8101 Hong Kong dollars)