Shares of entertainment portal Stareastnet.com rose 5.9% in their first day of trading, bucking the recent trend for new issues on Hong Kong's Growth Enterprise Market. The company is betting its roster of 150 celebrities will keep gossip-hungry Chinese consumers flocking to its site. It seems investors agree.
Stareastnet's shares rose to HK$1.25 from their offer price of HK$1.18. The company sold 170 million shares to raise HK$200.6 million $25.7 million to help finance the development of new content and additional technology. The gain came even as the tech-heavy US Nasdaq fell 1.7%.
Stareastnet offers entertainment news, live chat with its contracted celebrities and movie clips as well as...
