Staff Reporter
Shares of Mixue Group, China’s largest bubble tea and drinks chain, soared over 47% on their debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this Monday. This marks the strongest start for new listings in the city since 2021.
Mixue, famous for its affordable beverages and the red-cloaked Snow King mascot, raised $444 million in its initial public offering by selling 17 million shares at a fixed price of HK$202.5 each.
On its first trading day, shares peaked at HK$298 after opening at HK$262, significantly outperforming the 1% rise in Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index.
This impressive launch fuels optimism for a robust year ahead for new equity issuances by Chinese firms in Hong Kong. As Beijing increases support for private enterprises to stimulate a sluggish economy amid rising geopolitical tensions, investor sentiment—both retail and institutional—plays a crucial role in revitalizing the financial hub’s listing activity.
Notably, CATL plans to raise at least $5 billion, while Chery Automobile aims to initiate its offerings later this year.
Mixue’s impressive debut comes amid declines for its main bubble tea competitors. Sichuan Baicha Baidao fell nearly 7%, while Guming experienced a dip of 1.7% on Monday.
Retail investors showed strong demand for Mixue’s IPO, subscribing for 5,258 times the number of shares available in that tranche, according to the company’s filings. This makes it one of Hong Kong’s most sought-after IPOs.
The retail subscription rate was just shy of Bloks Group, which saw a record 6,000 times oversubscription during its January IPO.
Year to date, Hong Kong has witnessed $1.44 billion in IPO activity, marking the best start to a year since 2021, according to Dealogic data. In 2025, new IPOs have averaged an 11.7% gain on their first trading day, a notable increase from the 7.6% gain recorded in 2024.
Mixue’s reputation among Chinese consumers for offering drinks as low as 6 yuan ($0.82) and the scarcity of IPOs in Hong Kong have fueled significant demand from retail investors, according to advisors involved in the deal.
“Many Chinese tea chain stocks have had disappointing debuts, so Mixue’s 30% jump is a pleasant surprise for investors,” said George Au, deputy sales director at Phillip Securities.
The shortened IPO settlement period in Hong Kong has led some brokerages to offer reduced margin loans for new share purchases, further boosting retail interest in offerings like Mixue.
Founded in 1997 as a small ice shop in Zhengzhou, Henan province, Mixue has evolved into a franchise powerhouse, boasting over 45,000 stores globally by September 2024—surpassing Starbucks’ 40,576 locations worldwide.
Often regarded as China’s largest chain for iced drinks, milk tea, and ice cream, Mixue operates more like a raw-material supplier than a traditional beverage brand, selling food materials, packaging, and equipment to thousands of franchisees, as detailed in its filings.
Nearly all of Mixue’s stores are run by franchisees, contrasting with Starbucks, which operates 53% of its locations directly.
Mixue faces the challenge of expanding from tier two and tier three cities into tier one cities, where competitors like Nayuki and Heytea have established outlets, according to Longdley Zephirin, principal and analyst at The Zephirin Group.
Although there’s no official classification, Chinese cities are often ranked in tiers based on factors such as GDP and population, with Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou widely recognized as tier one cities.
In the first nine months of 2024, Mixue reported a net profit of 3.49 billion yuan, up from 3.19 billion yuan during the same period the previous year, according to its IPO filings.
