By Scott Murdoch and Julie Zhu
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese e-cigarette and vape manufacturer Smoore International (HK:6969), one of the largest companies of its kind in the world, has raised $918 million (£734.93 million) after pricing its shares at HK$12.40 each in its Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), according two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
The Shenzhen-based company offered 574 million shares, according to the company's prospectus, and had indicated the stock would be priced between HK$9.60 and HK$12.40 per share.
A Smoore spokesman declined to comment to Reuters.
The deal is the largest IPO in Hong Kong during 2020, but will be eclipsed later this week by China Bohai Bank which is currently raising up to $2 billion.
Smoore is due to start trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Friday.
Ahead of the institutional bookbuild, Smoore had locked in ten cornerstone investors which accounted for $340 million of the total raising, the prospectus showed.
The largest of those investors were Huaneng Trust which took $80 million worth of stock, and Prime Capital which took $50 million, according to its prospectus.
Smoore's listing documents showed its 2019 profit was 2.17 billion renminbi ($307.8 million), which was up sharply from 733.9 million renminbi one year earlier.