EL7.AI
StocksMedium•12 November 2026•
2 min read

Unable to Verify Suspension of AS Watson Listing Plan Valued at About $30 Billion

Key Facts

1The suspension on November 12 and a targeted offering value of $30 billion could not be verified.
2AS Watson operates more than 17,000 stores across 12 brands in 31 markets and employs 130,000 people.
3CK Hutchison’s retail division generated about HK$98,840 million in the first half of 2025, an increase of 8%.
4Temasek owned a 25% stake in AS Watson and was seeking to exit through an IPO, according to a Reuters report in January.

It could not be verified that CK Hutchison suspended plans on November 12 to list AS Watson in Hong Kong and London, or that the targeted offering value is $30 billion. Reuters reported in January that the group was seeking to complete the dual listing by mid-2026, noting that the timetable was not fixed. The agency said Goldman Sachs and UBS were working on the planned offering. It also reported that Singapore’s Temasek, which owns a 25% stake in AS Watson, was seeking to exit its investment through the IPO. Those details remain background on the plan, not confirmation of a suspension as of the date of this story.

AS Watson operates more than 17,000 stores across 12 retail brands in 31 markets and employs 130,000 people worldwide, according to the company’s official website. In its first-half 2025 results, the group said the company operated 16,935 stores in 31 markets across 12 brands. CK Hutchison’s retail division generated about HK$98.84 billion in the six months ended June 30, 2025, compared with HK$91.469 billion in the same period of 2024, an increase of 8%. Reuters’ report on the same period put revenue at HK$99 billion, up 41% year on year. AS Watson alone generated more than $24 billion in revenue in fiscal 2024, according to the company’s sustainability report.

According to Reuters, Temasek invested about $5.7 billion in AS Watson in 2014 in a deal that valued the company at about $22 billion. Temasek tried to sell its stake in 2019, but the deal was not completed. In EL7 data, CK Hutchison shares trading under the ticker CKHUY closed at $9.11 on November 11, after closing at $9.09 on November 10 and $9.03 on November 9. These are daily closing prices and do not include the high or low during the November 11 session. CK Hutchison was considering strategic options, including spinning off units and listing them separately, alongside a $22.8 billion sale of its ports business, Reuters reported in January 2026.

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