Tianhe Chemicals Said to Plan Pricing Hong Kong IPO Near Low End

Tianhe Chemicals Group Ltd. and its owners are poised to raise about $654 million in a Hong Kong initial public offering after selling shares near the bottom of a marketed range, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The company, based in Jinzhou city in northeastern China, and investors plan to price the sale of 2.82 billion shares at HK$1.80 each, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. The company offered shares at HK$1.75 to HK$2.25 apiece, according to its prospectus.

Tianhe Chemicals is raising money in this year’s third-biggest Hong Kong IPO to fund development of new products. Including Tianhe, Hong Kong IPOs have raised $7.4 billion this year, up 47 percent from the same period of 2013, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The company’s main products are lubricant additives and specialty fluorochemicals, according to the prospectus. It supplies Chinese refiners including PetroChina Co. and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., the document shows.

A Hong Kong-based external spokesman for Tianhe Chemicals declined to comment on the pricing.

(businessweek.com  Edited by Topco)