A small detail in Anta Sports' listing prospectus last July has yielded an unexpected headache for the Chinese sportswear company as the value of the renminbi rises.
The seemingly innocuous sentence declared that money raised by Anta from its Hong Kong initial public offering, but not immediately used, would be deposited into “interest-bearing bank accounts . . . in Hong Kong”.
Most other Chinese companies have been less specific about where their unused IPO proceeds go.
But because of its specificity, Anta found its cash trapped in Hong Kong dollars as the renminbi rose by 7 per cent against the territory's currency, which is pegged to the US dollar. As the majority of its costs were in renminbi, this meant that the value of Anta's cash pile was steadily being eroded.
In addition, while China's central bank was raising interest rates to cool the country's overheating economy, Hong Kong banks were busy cutting rates as they were forced to follow US interest rate movements because of the currency peg.
Anta's problem illustrates the difficulties that the renminbi's steady appreciation has caused for companies trying to use foreign currency to fund investments in mainland China and get around the country's capital controls to do so.
Anta's IPO came during a strong bull run in the Hong Kong stock market, and the heavily oversubscribed offering yielded HK$3.1bn (US$398m, €252m, £200m) in proceeds, just HK$714m of which the company had spent by the end of the year.
This February Anta decided to remedy matters and issued a statement to the stock exchange saying it would transfer its extra cash into renminbi accounts in mainland banks to achieve better returns.
Paul Ling, chief financial officer, told the Financial Times that the difference in interest rates given by mainland Chinese banks versus Hong Kong banks was 2-3 percentage points. “But no matter what the interest rate is, it is hard to compete with the [expected] 10 per cent increase in the value of the renminbi this year.”
China's capital controls mean that individuals and companies are allowed to convert just HK$20,000 of cash a day into renminbi under normal circumstances. Mr Ling declined to say how much he was able to convert every month, but he described the way Anta, and probably other companies, were legally transferring far larger amounts than the daily limit into China – a sensitive subject few other companies would discuss.
Anta takes bills from its wholly owned Chinese subsidiaries – invoices for wages and raw materials, among other things – and presents them to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe). Safe then gives permission for Anta's Hong Kong-listed entity to exchange the amount needed to pay the bills, even if it is more than the daily HK$20,000 limit.
Since the Chinese subsidiary no longer has costs to pay, Mr Ling can then direct it to place its renminbi-denominated revenues into mainland banks to take advantage of higher interest rates and rising currency value, thus replenishing Anta's cash reserves on the balance sheet.
随着人民币升值，安踏体育用品有限公司(Anta Sports)去年7月份上市招股说明书中的一个小细节，给这家中国公司带来了一个当初未曾意料到的头痛问题。
这句看似无关痛痒的话声称，安踏体育在香港首次公开发行(IPO)中所募得的资金如果没有立即投入使用，将存入“香港的……计息银行账户”。
其它多数中国公司往往不会详细说明其未使用IPO资金的流向。
但由于它的这一说明，安踏发现，随着人民币兑港元汇率上升7%，其资金陷在了港元里（港元实行与美元的联系汇率制度）。鉴于其大部分成本以人民币计价，这意味着安踏的现金资产价值正稳步受到侵蚀。
此外，在中国央行上调利率为内地过热的经济降温的同时，香港的银行却忙于调低利率——由于联系汇率制，它们被迫跟随美国的利率动向。
安踏的问题表明，对于那些试图使用外币为自己在中国内地的投资提供资金、并绕过中国资本管制规定以达到这一目的的公司而言，人民币的稳步升值给他们制造了难题。
安踏上市之际，正值香港股市经历一轮强劲的牛市，安踏的股票发行获得了大量超额认购，给该公司带来了31亿港元（合3.98亿美元）的发行收入。截至去年年底，该公司仅支出了其中的7.14亿港元。
今年2月份，安踏决定采取补救措施。该公司向香港交易所发布一份声明，将把其剩余资金转入内地银行的人民币账户，以实现更高的回报率。
安踏首席财务官凌
