China's Bama Tea Brewing For A Hong Kong IPO, Riding The Hot Wave Of Tea Listings

After three failed listing attempts, the tea leaf seller has received a key regulatory green light for its planned IPO from China's securities watchdog 

Key Takeaways:

Bama Teach has been approved by China's securities regulator for a Hong Kong IPO, but must renew its application after its original prospectus recently expired 

The tea leaf seller is expected to refile for the listing soon, and could ring the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's opening "gong" with a trading debut later this year 

It was a little of both for Bama Tea Co. Ltd., whose application for a Hong Kong IPO expired earlier this month just as its planned listing received a key regulatory approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). Fate has so far refused to smile on this major cultivator and seller of leaves used to make China's favorite beverage, which has tried but failed to go public three times. 

Having received the CSRC's blessing, the company must now file an updated application again with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Its chances of brewing up success seem stronger this time, as it looks likely to sail through the stock exchange's approval process. 

In an announcement on its website on June 17, the CSRC formally registered Bama's plan to list in Hong Kong by selling up to 29.13 million shares. Concurrently, the regulator disclosed that 106 Bama shareholders plan to convert about 44 million of the company's shares into stock that can be traded in the Hong Kong listing. 

Bama is one of China's better known tea brands, with a history dating back more than 300 years. Information on its website draws heavily on that dazzling past. In the year 1742, Wang Shirang, a famous official in South China's Fujian province, presented the tea to the Qing Dynasty's Qianlong Emperor. The emperor praised the drink and dubbed it tieguanyin, which has become one of China's most recognizable types of tea today. Thereafter, Wang became known as the "godfather of tieguanyin." 

Wang Wenli and Wang Wenbin, two brothers descended from the 13th generation of the ...