Beijing Media, the Chinese mainland’s first media group company to list on an overseas stock exchange, made a robust debut in Hong Kong on Wednesday, with its shares rocketing 19.8 per cent.

The shares closed at HK$22.70, compared to its initial public offering price of HK$18.95. A total of 25.61 million shares worth HK$591.74 million (US$75.9 million) were traded. Beijing Media, the advertising unit of the popular Beijing Youth Daily, raised up to HK$905 million (US$116 million) in its IPO through the sale of 47.74 million H shares, or 25 per cent of its enlarged equity.

Zhang Yanping, chairman of Beijing Youth Daily, the parent company of Beijing Media, said the management is very satisfied with the stock price and feel very confident about the group’s future development. "The listing represents a general developing trend of China’s media industry," said Zhang.

Beijing Media’s full-year profit is forecast to grow 26.8 per cent to reach 194 million yuan (US$23.4 million), or 96 cents per share on a pro forma basis. This translates to a price earnings ratio of between 15.6 and 19.7 times. In addition, Beijing Media has opened its doors to foreign investors, with South Africa’s largest media company, Naspers Ltd holding 9.9 per cent of the shares, or nearly 40 per cent of the offering.

"We will work together with Naspers on TV development," Zhang said at a listing ceremony. The two parties will start by working on technical issues. Meanwhile, Beijing Media’s president Sun Wei said the group is in talks with certain TV stations such as Beijing TV and China Central Television (CCTV) to jointly launch new TV channels.

辅助阅读：周三上午十时，北青传媒股份有限公司(香港股票代码1000)正式在香港联交所挂牌交易，当日收盘22.7港元，生幅达16%。北青传媒作为内地传媒公司境外上市的第一股，创下了香港H股的新纪录。