Topsports International Holdings Ltd, the sportswear business of Chinese footwear retailer Belle International, launched a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) to raise up to $1.2 billion, according to Reuters.
The company is selling about 930 million shares with a projected price range between HK$8.30 to HK$10.10 ($1.06 to $1.29) per share, according to the sheet seen by Reuters. The price range puts its valuation in the range of $6.6 billion to $8 billion.
Established in 1991, Belle produces shoes under its own brands such as Belle and Staccato, and distributes other foreign labels such as Puma, Converse, Timberland and The North Face.
With a physical network of 20,738 stores when it was taken private, Topsports sells brands including Adidas, Nike and Puma in China. Citing consultant Frost & Sullivan in its IPO prospectus, Topsports said it had a 15.9 percent market share in 2018 in China in terms of retail sales value.
The flotation of Topsports, launched on Tuesday, marks the first partial exit for the two Chinese private equity firms since taking Belle private for $6.8 billion in July 2017.
Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley are joint sponsors of the Topsports IPO.
