Chinese aluminum maker seeks $1.2 billion from shares

Aluminum maker China Hongqiao Group Ltd. plans to raise HK$9.3 billion ($1.2 billion) from selling shares to help fund its projects and reduce debt.

China’s largest private aluminum producer is offering 320 million shares at HK$29.20 each, according to terms of the deal seen by Bloomberg News. The offer price is 9.6% lower than the firm’s closing price of HK$32.30 on Monday.

Hongqiao plans to use proceeds from the share sale to fund projects and repay debt, the terms show. It will be subject to a lock-up preventing it from selling any more shares for 90 days.

The deal received investor orders for multiple times its size shortly after the company launched it, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named because the information isn’t public. Hongqiao didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Shandong-based company is seeking cash against the backdrop of a buoyant market for aluminum. The metal is trading near a three-year high as construction of artificial-intelligence data centers has helped fuel demand.

At $1.2 billion, Hongqiao’s placement would be Hong Kong’s third-largest additional share sale by a company this year, after BYD Co. and Xiaomi Corp.’s offerings that each raised more than $5 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, the broader share-sale market in Hong Kong saw some moribund listing debuts in recent weeks, following what had been a bumper period for much of the year.

UBS Group AG and China Securities International are arranging the Hongqiao deal.

(By Dave Sebastian)