Budweiser APAC marks the second biggest IPO of the year

Budweiser APAC marked a thundering public debut at Hong Kong as it became the second biggest IPO of the year.

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV’s (AB InBev) is the largest brewer in the world and it decided to relaunch its IPO this month after cancelling the plans of the public debut in July due to several factors including the market condition being unfavorable.

AB InBev’s Asia-Pacific unit raised as much as $5 billion after the relaunch of the IPO and it surged more than 5% to 28.5 Hong Kong dollars by morning. This is a special moment for the company as they entered the market during Hong Kong is going through a political crisis.

A Budweiser share was priced below its expected range of between HK$27 and HK$30. And the shares of the company opened at 27.40 Hong Kong dollars ($3.49) a share, soaring above its IPO pricing of HK$27 per share.

At the launch, Budweiser APAC CEO Jan Craps stated: “We are focused on growth, growth is what we set out to do … Asia of course is the largest beer market in the world. We think we can do a lot of partnerships in Asia here, even if we’re the largest brewer in Asia today, this is still a market where we have a lot of opportunities, in many markets where we’re not leading … as well.”

He further stated that the biggest markets in Asia for the company would be China, South Korea, India and Vietnam.


(Reference: CNBC, Reuters, Al Jazeera, Nikkei, South China Morning Post)
(Image source: Patrick Allen | CNBC)