Weibo, NetEase’s Cloud Village set to raise nearly US$1 billion between them in Hong Kong IPOs
- Weibo, the ‘Twitter of China’, kicks off its Hong Kong offering as it seeks to raise up to US$547.3 million
- NetEase’s music streaming unit prices its Hong Kong IPO at midpoint of marketed range, raising US$421 million
Two Chinese internet companies are set to raise close to US$1 billion between them in Hong Kong initial public offerings.
The maximum offer price represents a 16 per cent premium to its Nasdaq-listed American depositary receipt (ADR) closing price at US$42.79 (HK$333.69) last Friday. Each ADR represents one ordinary share, and its Hong Kong shares will be fully fungible to its ADRs.
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The Hong Kong stock sale will end on Thursday, when the final offer price will also be determined. Trading on the Hong Kong bourse, under stock code “9898” is scheduled to begin next Wednesday, December 8.
Chinese issuers have typically set the final price of their Hong Kong secondary offerings at a tight discount to their US-listed shares, because a big deviation from their ADR levels can lead to choppy trading of their stock after debut. Weibo’s ADR has fallen about 32 per cent from its year-to-date peak of US$62.66 reached in July.
“We help the content creators on our platform to engage and interact with their followers and build up their social assets to create social value and monetisation opportunities,” the company said in its prospectus.
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Owned 44.4 per cent by Chinese online media giant Sina Corp, Weibo counts Alibaba Group, the owner of this paper, as its second largest shareholder with a 29.6 per cent stake.
