WH Group Limited, the world’s largest pork processing company and parent company to U.S. pig producer and pork processor Smithfield Foods, commenced trading on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong on August 5.
WH Group’s shares were actively traded and recorded an impressive price movement on its opening day, with share prices reaching an intra-day high of HK$6.86 (US$0.89) per share and closed at HK$6.66 (US$0.86) per share, approximately 10.65 percent and 7.42 percent higher than the offer price of HK$6.20 (US$0.80)per share respectively. A total of approximately 464 million shares changed hands on turnover of approximately HK$3.102 billion (US$400 million).
WH Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Wan Long stated: “We are delighted at the positive reception for our IPO today, and thank investors for their confidence in our group. The listing of our shares today marks the beginning of a new chapter for WH Group. As the world’s largest pork company, we will strive to push forward our global growth strategy, and reinforce our lead in the global pork and packaged meat markets, aiming to bring handsome returns to our shareholders.”
Formerly known as Shuanghui International Holdings Limited, the company changed its name to WH Group Limited on January 21. The name change was made to help better differentiate the company as a corporate brand from its numerous product brands. The WH Group name was derived from “Wanzhou Holdings,” where the Chinese characters “Wan” and “Zhou” connote eternity and continents, respectively.
