Tencent Backed Anjuke Group Mulls Hong Kong IPO

   By P.R. Venkat 
 

Tencent-backed Anjuke Group has filed an application for an initial public offering in Hong Kong, becoming the latest technology firm to tap the active equity fund raising market in the Asian financial hub.

The company that provides data and technology to the real estate industry has appointed BofA Securities, Credit Suisse, and CICC as joint sponsors for the proposed offering, an application filed to the Hong Kong stock exchange showed Thursday.

Anjuke didn't disclose the offer size nor the timing of the IPO.

Apart from Tencent, which has a 14.1% stake in the company, Anjuke counts private equity firm Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic as its shareholders.

The IPO plan is the latest in a string of multi-billion deals that are happening in Hong Kong, many involving Chinese technology startups or other companies catering to China's increasingly affluent consumers.

Earlier this year Tencent-backed Kuaishou Technology that competes with ByteDance Ltd. raised 5.4 billion U.S. dollars in an IPO. Other firms such as Baidu Inc., which is already listed on the Nasdaq, raised nearly $3.1 billion in its Hong Kong offering.

Anjuke which was established in 2007 to engage in property and advertising services was acquired by New York Stock Exchange listed company 58.com in 2015. In 2020, the controlling shareholder 58.com itself was taken private and delisted in NYSE by a consortium.

That privatization was financed through a term facility of $1.65 billion for a term of seven years and a two-year bridge loan facility of about US$800 million.

For the year ended 2020, Anjuke Group's revenue rose 6.2% from the previous year to 8.05 billion yuan ($1.23 billion).

Write to P.R. Venkat at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 07, 2021 20:41 ET (00:41 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.