Tencent-backed health care platform WeDoctor shrugs off bear market concerns, prepares for Hong Kong IPO
Company valued at US$5.5 billion believes it will be ‘rewarded by the market’
We believe online technology platforms, especially those focusing on health care like us … will be acknowledged and rewarded by the market
“We will choose an appropriate time for the listing,” Jerry Liao Jieyuan, chief executive and founder of the company, said at a press conference.
“We believe online technology platforms, especially those focusing on health care like us, which could tap the pinpoints of China’s 1.4 billion population, will be acknowledged and rewarded by the market,” he said, without revealing a specific time frame for the listing. The company said in April the initial public offering was planned within the next one-and-a-half years.
Liao’s comments came as Xiaomi, one of China’s most high-profile technology unicorns, valued at more than US$55 billion, disappointed on its debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday.
Shares in the smartphone maker closed at HK$16.8,1.2 per cent below its IPO price of HK$17. Analysts said the company had been weighed down by investor concerns about its hefty valuation on the back of an unfolding US-China trade war that poses a huge threat to China’s technology companies, as they could find it harder to acquire core technologies from a more hawkish Trump administration.
At the same time, one of WeDoctor’s strongest rivals, Ping An Good Doctor, which is backed by Chinese insurance giant Ping An Insurance Group, has shed about 18 per cent in share prices since its debut on the Hong Kong bourse in May.
“We are different from many of our peers,” said Liao, shrugging off concerns a bearish sentiment towards technology stocks could weigh on WeDoctor’s performance in Hong Kong. “We spent eight years to establish a comprehensive system within China’s medical system, connecting with both big hospitals and grass roots clinics.”
