Artini China is primed to defy the bearish trend of the IPO market.

Sources said that the public tranche of the jewelry accessory manufacturer's IPO deal recorded a full subscription yesterday.

The source said the public tranche was fully subscribed yesterday, despite the exact over-subscription number not being confirmed.

Affected by the tepid first-day performance of mainland retailer Maoye International Holdings, investors are still deterred from the IPO market.

Shares of Maoye International plunged 1.94 percent below its offering price to close at HK$3.04 when the IPO debuted on Monday.

The result cast a shadow upon three IPO deals - Artini China, Asia Cement and E-Land - to which retail investors are showing lukewarm responses in margin lending.

The margin application for Artini China was recorded by five local financial institutions and was slightly more than HK$4 million; investors weren't enthusiastic in wagering on the other two IPO newcomers via margin lending either.

Prudential Brokerage Associate Director Kingston Lin expects the new tide of IPOs to underperform the market, saying: "Investors are no longer ardent to tap into the IPO market due to the unstable market conditions".

"Among the three newcomers," Lin said, "only the outlook for Asia Cement is desirable. The business of the other two is just so-so."

However, Matthew Kwok, head of research for Tranrich Financial, said that the IPO deal of Artini China is attractive to retail investors since it can ride the growth of the mainland's booming retail market.

"The offering price is pretty cheap, and the company's valuation is relatively lower than that of its peers such as Ports Design and Belle," he added.

The international tranche was reported to be over-subscribed. The shares will begin to trade on the Hong Kong exchange May 16.

Artini is selling 280 million shares with an indicative range of between HK$2.22 and HK$3.43 each, which would raise up to HK$960 million.

Artini is the second-largest retailer of fashion accessories in the market, behind only Swarovski. The company currently owns 33 stores and 97 concessions on the mainland.

The firm recorded a 16.36 percent increase in turnover to HK$339.4 million last year. Its 2007 net profits climbed 39.2 percent from 2006, to HK$73.4 million.

The company will use about 40 percent of its IPO-raised funds for its plans to double its retail outlets to 256 by the end of 2009.

(HK Edition 05/08/2008 page3)