Miniso eyes Hong Kong stock market listing

Miniso Group Holding, the New York-listed Chinese household and consumer goods retailer, is planning a second listing in Hong Kong, joining an increasing number of US-listed mainland companies seeking a listing closer to home.

The retailer submitted its application to Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday, according to the bourse’s website.

The Guangzhou-based company is following in the footsteps of electric-vehicle makers Li Auto and Xpeng in seeking a dual primary listing in Hong Kong to hedge against the risk of being delisted from US exchanges. Legislation introduced by the Trump administration in 2020 seeks to delist Chinese companies that fail to pass US audit reviews for three consecutive years, and the Biden administration is not letting up.

Miniso raised US$608 million from its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2020. The company’s shares, however, have fallen more than 66 percent since listing and were trading at US$7.88 on Thursday.

Miniso’s revenue increased by 24.2 percent to 5.42 billion yuan (US$853.5 million) for the six months ended December 2021, while adjusted net profit rose 114 percent to 398.6 million yuan, according to its listing application.

The company said it expects to see strong growth because of China’s booming retail and pop toy market.

The estimated growth rate of the pop toy market in China, which saw gross merchandise value (GMV) reach 34.5 billion yuan in 2021, is 24 percent from 2022 to 2026, according to Miniso’s filing, citing data from Frost & Sullivan.

Miniso, which opened its first store in China in 2013, has built a global network with over 5,000 stores in around 100 countries, including 3,100 in China as of end 2021.

The aggregate GMV of products sold through its network was about 18 billion yuan in 2021, making it the largest global branded variety retailer of lifestyle products, according to Frost & Sullivan.

BofA Securities, Haitong International Capital and UBS are the joint sponsors.