Samsonite International SA sold shares at the bottom end of a revised price range in its Hong Kong initial public offering, raising $1.25 billion.
Samsonite, the luggage maker backed by London-based CVC Capital Partners Ltd., got its start in Denver in 1910 as Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing.
The IPO raised $250 million less than the maximum originally sought, highlighting how companies are struggling to obtain top valuations in Hong Kong as the Hang Seng Index suffers its worst monthly slump in a year. Two-thirds of companies that went public in the Chinese city in 2011 have fallen from their offer price, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
“Weak market sentiment is working against high valuation for IPOs,” said Nelson Yan, who helps oversee $90 million as investment manager at Mayfair Pacific Financial Group in Hong Kong, “When markets fall, companies that set price ranges aggressively have to settle with relatively low final pricing.”
An outside spokeswoman for Samsonite, who declined to be identified citing company policy, had no comment.
Samsonite was bought by CVC, a private-equity firm, for about $1.7 billion in October 2007. Its U.S. retail division, Samsonite Co. Stores, in 2009 sought bankruptcy protection from creditors after the financial crisis caused a slump in demand for travel-related products.
