Chinese Video-App Firm Kuaishou Launches $5.4 Billion IPO in Hong Kong
January 24 2021 - 9:23PM
Dow Jones News
By Joanne Chiu
Chinese video-clip and live-streaming group Kuaishou Technology
is seeking to raise up to $5.4 billion from an initial public
offering, joining a string of tech companies from China that have
listed in Hong Kong.
Kuaishou on Monday began taking investor orders for the stock
sale ahead of a listing on Feb. 5, a term sheet showed. The company
is backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd. and competes with ByteDance
Ltd., the Chinese company behind TikTok.
With a minimum deal size of $4.95 billion, the IPO would be the
largest in the world since late 2019, when state-controlled Saudi
Arabian Oil Co., commonly known as Aramco, raised $29.4 billion,
Dealogic figures show. It would also be the largest in Hong Kong
since Budweiser Brewing Co. APAC Ltd., the Asian unit of
Anheuser-Busch InBev SA., raised $5.75 billion in September
2019.
The company is selling 365.2 million new shares at an indicative
range of 105 to 115 Hong Kong dollars, according to a term sheet
seen by The Wall Street Journal. It plans to fix the offer price on
Jan. 29. At the top of the range, the deal implies a market
capitalization of $60.9 billion.
The offering size could increase to up to $6.2 billion after
underwriting banks exercise an option to sell 15% more shares.
Kuaishou has secured 10 cornerstone investors, including Capital
Group, Temasek, BlackRock Inc., Canada Pension Plan Investment
Board and Boyu Capital. They agreed to buy a combined $2.45 billion
worth of the stock wherever the deal prices.
Units of Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp. and China
Renaissance Holdings Ltd. are acting as joint sponsors for the
deal.
Kuaishou's valuation has risen rapidly. It was valued at $28.6
billion last February after obtaining $3 billion in funding from a
Tencent-led consortium that included Singapore's Temasek and other
venture-capital and private-equity investors, according to
PitchBook, a data provider. In total, the company has raised more
than $4 billion in multiple funding rounds, PitchBook data
shows.
Write to Joanne Chiu at joanne.chiu@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 24, 2021 21:08 ET (02:08 GMT)
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