Chinese leasing company raises $658 million to drive lending

Shanghai-based Far East Horizon is set to be the very first Chinese leasing company to list in Hong Kong after raising HK$5.13 billion $658 million in a Hong Kong IPO last week.

The deal, which is the second-largest so far this year next to Hongqiao’s $822 million IPO, required investors and analysts to wrap their heads around funding channels for Chinese small and medium-size enterprises SMEs, which is a sector that usually receives little attention from lenders.

Far East Horizon provides equipment-based financial leasing to SMEs, which is to say its customers can borrow against their operating equipment. The business model is...