Miniso said on Sept 26 it will spin off its brand Top Toy and list it in Hong Kong, riding a wave of investor enthusiasm for Chinese toy makers and highlighting the city’s renewed status as a global fund-raising hot spot.
UBS, JP Morgan and CLSA are overall coordinators of Top Toy’s initial public offering, Guangzhou-based Miniso said.
The business, which will remain a subsidiary of Miniso post spin-off, focuses on pop culture-inspired collectible toys. Miniso had said in June it was assessing a potential spin-off of Top Toy, signalling growing confidence in the brand’s standalone appeal.
Launched in late 2020 with just nine stores across five Chinese cities, Top Toy has since expanded to 293 locations as of June, including a push into international markets since the December quarter of 2024.
Top Toy’s listing comes in the wake of the massive rise of Chinese toy maker Pop Mart International Group, whose ugly-cute Labubu dolls have become popular across the world.
The spin-off and subsequent listing highlights Hong Kong’s role as the leading offshore fund-raising hub for Chinese companies, especially as US lawmakers threaten to delist Chinese firms from American stock exchanges.
Hong Kong, fuelled by the influx of Chinese companies, has emerged as the top global bourse by volume of IPOs and second listings combined so far in 2025, overtaking its biggest rival – the New York Stock Exchange, according to data from London Stock Exchange Group.
Chinese autonomous driving developer Momenta was also mulling over shifting its IPO to Hong Kong from New York.
The spin-off and subsequent listing would increase Top Toy’s operational and financial transparency, and a stand-alone entity would enable to make the business more appealing to investors, Miniso said. REUTERS