Dongfeng Motor Corp, China's third largest automobile group by market share, embarked on pre-marketing for its Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing last Monday October 24. Backed by lead managers, CICC, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch, the Wuhan-based group has gone out with a wide proceeds range of roughly $450 million to $650 million.
Such need for flexibility and caution is hardly surprising given how uncertain investor sentiment remains. Dongfeng faces two principal roadblocks.
Firstly market conditions are not good, with primary markets stalling in the face of declining secondary markets, where profit taking has increased in tandem with global policy makers' use of the word...
