HONG KONG (Reuters) – Chinese online short video company Kuaishou will open the books for its Hong Kong initial public offering to raise at least $5 billion next Monday in the city’s biggest float in more than a year, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
Analysts from the investment banks working on the deal started briefing potential investors on Monday as part of the pre-marketing roadshow, the people said, declining to be named as the information is not public yet.
Kuaishou, which is backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kuaishou has aimed for a market capitalisation of more than $50 billion since it began preparing for a public markets deal, Reuters reported in September.
An exact valuation for Kuaishou will be determined after the meetings that are due to be held this week, the sources said.
A deal of at least $5 billion would be a strong start for Hong Kong’s capital markets in 2021, as it would be the largest IPO since Budweiser Brewing Company raised $5.75 billion in September 2019.
Kuaishou’s apps feature user-uploaded videos as well as live-streaming programmes through which vendors can promote consumer products.
The video provider said it had an average of 262.4 million daily users for the nine months ending in September 2020 in its updated filings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange published ahead of the deal’s launch next week.
Kuaishou’s IPO is sponsored by Bank of America, China Renaissance and Morgan Stanley.
(Reporting by Scott Murdoch and Kane Wu in Hong Kong, additional reporting Pei Li; Editing by Stephen Coates)
