The central theses:
- The real estate management company Onewo, which boasts high-tech elements, could become the biggest IPO in Hong Kong this year
- The underperformance of its industry peers has undermined the company’s chances of a strong valuation
By Emily Chan
It boasts high-tech credentials as it aims to make Hong Kong’s biggest IPO so far this year. But the property manager of one of the China Vanke Co.Ltd. (2202.HK; 000002.SZ), one of the country’s leading developers, is being hampered by a collapsing real estate market.
Vanke is the latest in a growing list of Chinese developers to spin off their real estate and space management services businesses Onewo Inc. went public after passing its listing hearing earlier this month. The company is reportedly planning to raise at least $2 billion, which could make it the largest fundraiser in Hong Kong this year if the final figure tops the $2.1 billion raised by CT Group Duty Free (1880.HK; 601888.SH) in its listing last month.
Onewo’s preliminary prospectus reveals that it has three main lines of business: residential and community services; Integrated commercial and urban services; and services that include the Internet of Things with Artificial Intelligence (AIoT) and Business Processes as a Service (BPaaS).
The first two, which include traditional residential and commercial real estate services and urban space integration services, are the company’s main sources of revenue, contributing more than 90% of total sales in recent years. The newer AIoT and BPaaS services are a more recent addition that primarily provide services for remote space technology operations.
Last year, Onewo’s revenue reached 23.7 billion yuan (US$3.4 billion), up 30.6% year-on-year. Its residential services division, its largest contributor, managed 660 million square feet of floor space. Compared to industry leaders country gardenings (6098.HK) posted sales of 28.84 in 2021…
