The Chinese IPO That Led the Way in Wall Street’s Virtual Shift
As the pandemic began rattling markets, there was no such thing as business as usual. That didn’t stop Ma Cunjun and his bankers.
When Ma Cunjun strapped on his face mask and boarded a nearly empty flight to New York from Hong Kong, the most important deal of his life was at risk of unraveling.
It was Jan. 29, and in less than two weeks Ma was supposed to take his Shenzhen, China-based online insurance platform public on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York. Preparations for Huize Holding Ltd.’s initial public offering, which in September had targeted $150 million, had been in the works since 2018. But now China’s coronavirus outbreak was bringing Asia’s largest economy to its knees and threatening to cause havoc around the world. Ma, 48, had to decide whether to push ahead.