Deacons and Richards Butler have acted on the initial public offering and main board listing of financial information and services provider Hong Kong Economic Times Holdings Limited (HKET).

Corporate finance partner Ronny Chow led the Deacons team advising HKET on its IPO of 104 million shares - or 25% of its enlarged share capital - which was almost 400 times over-subscribed and raised about HK$177m (US$22.7m).

Corporate finance partner Ivy Lai led the Richards Butler team representing the lead underwriter BNP Paribas Peregrine Capital Limited.

Trading of HKET's shares began on 3 August, with the stock price soaring from the IPO price of HK$1.70 to HK$2.30 per share. The 35% increase made HKET the best performer on the first day of trading among companies listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange in recent months.

HKET plans to use HK$50m of the net proceeds of the share offer to fund its new businesses in China. This includes HK$30m for its China advertising business and possible cooperative ventures with other mainland media firms, and HK$20m for developing ET Net's presence on the mainland. A further HK$30m is to be used for new magazine launches and HK$25m will be spent over three years to upgrade its Hong Kong newspaper production line.

HKET publishes Hong Kong financial newspaper Hong Kong Economic Times, PC magazine e-Zone, recruitment paper Career Times, and also owns financial information provider ET Net. The company leapt 150% to a net profit of HK$65m in the financial year ending March 2005.