Chinese Video-App Firm Kuaishou Launches $5.4 Billion IPO in Hong Kong

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 [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 24, 2021 21:08 ET (02:08 GMT)

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