Malaysia’s Top Glove hires banks for potential $1 billion HK listing: sources

By Liz Lee and Scott Murdoch

KUALA LUMPUR/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Malaysian rubber glove maker Top Glove Corp Bhd , riding a wave of demand generated by the coronavirus outbreak, has hired banks to arrange a Hong Hong listing that could raise at least $1 billion, two sources said.

Citigroup , China International Capital Corporation (CICC) <3908.HK> and UBS , will manage the listing, said the two sources, who have direct knowledge of the matter but can’t be named as the information is not yet public.

Another source, also declining to be named as the process is private, said the world’s largest glove maker could be more ambitious and look to raise as much as $2 billion.

The company, which is already listed in Malaysia and Singapore, in a filing to the Kuala Lumpur exchange on Monday said it is evaluating a dual primary listing on Hong Kong’s stock exchange.

The evaluation is at a preliminary stage and the structure has not been finalised.

“(The proposed listing), if undertaken, will enable Top Glove to be present in a larger, more active and liquid stock exchange, enlarge and diversify its investor base, and also provide an alternate and larger fund raising platform to support the company’s future growth strategy,” it said.

Citigroup, CICC and UBS declined to comment.

Top Glove reported record quarterly profit last month, saying it had seen “supernormal” demand for its disposable gloves during the COVID-19 pandemic. It had said it was talking to bankers about listing in Hong Kong within six to nine months.

(Reporting by Liz Lee in Kuala Lumpur and Scott Murdoch in Hong Kong; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)