HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese hotpot chain Haidilao's shares jumped as much as 10 percent on debut in Hong Kong on Wednesday, giving it a valuation of about $13 billion and becoming the second major listing in a week to make a strong start in the financial hub.
Haidilao opened at HK$18.80 ($2.41), compared to the initial public offering (IPO) price of HK$17.80, and then climbed further to HK$19.64.
Chinese online food delivery-to-ticketing services firm Meituan Dianping, which is backed by China's biggest gaming and social media firm Tencent Holdings, last week gained about 5 percent on debut.
Haidilao, which mainly serves spicy Sichuan style hotpot and is popular for the free services and entertainment such as manicures and board games offered to waiting customers, raised almost $1 billion in its IPO.
The company priced its IPO at the top of an indicative range, underscoring investors' optimism about its growth prospects despite a number of food safety incidents over the past two years.
Hong Kong is on track for a bumper year of listings, with $28.7 billion raised so far, propelled by a stock market rally late last year that encouraged would-be listings, and rules introduced earlier this year to attract tech companies by allowing them to weight voting rights in favour of their founders.
But an 18 percent drop in the benchmark Hang Seng index from its January high and Sino-U.S. trade tensions have weighed on the performance of several IPOs, such as those of smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp and China Tower, which are trading below their IPO price.
($1 = 7.8135 Hong Kong dollars)
(Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee and Julia Fioretti; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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