Fried Frank and Paul Hastings have ushered in American luxury handbag retailer Coach’s depositary receipts listing on the Hong Kong bourse, as the company bids to boost its corporate profile and attract more Asian investors.
With its Hong Kong stores frequented by many brand name-conscious mainland Chinese tourists, the handbag maker will be the first U.S.-incorporated company to seek an HDR listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Coach will issue up to 293 million shares of depositary receipts on the main board of HKEx on Dec. 1, and intends not to offer any additional common stock or raise any capital in Hong Kong. It will retain its primary listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
Coach engaged Fried Frank as its lead counsel, with the team led by Hong Kong corporate partners Victoria Lloyd and Joshua Wechsler; while Paul Hastings serves as the advisor to JP Morgan, sponsor of the HDR.
As China poises to become the world’s second largest luxury market, surpassing Japan, Hong Kong has become a key portal for international high-end brands to capture China’s growing class of wealthy individuals and consumers. Earlier in the year, the Hong Kong bourse attracted listings from Italian fashion company Prada, suitcase maker Samsonite and French cosmetics chain L’Occitane.
Coach CEO Lew Frankfort told Hong Kong media that his company plans to open more stores and bring the total number of outlets in China to 100 by 2012 and make China its second-biggest market globally, after its U.S. home base, in a few years time. ALB
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