HONG KONG (Reuters/IFR) - Chinese online group discounter Pinduoduo Inc (PDD.O) priced its U.S. initial public offering (IPO) at $19 per American depositary share (ADS), raising $1.63 billion in the second-biggest U.S. float by a Chinese firm this year, according to two people familiar with the situation.
The Pinduoduo logo is seen in this illustration photo taken July 17, 2018. REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration
The pricing values money-losing Pinduoduo - which counts Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK) as a main backer - at $23.8 billion including all outstanding share options, compared with a valuation of $15 billion following a funding round in April.
The fast-growing company allows consumers to group together to get better discounts from merchants selling goods as varied as clothes, kitchenware and gadgets. It offered about 85.6 million ADS or about 6.8 percent of its enlarged share capital, at $16 to $19 each.
The people declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Pinduoduo is the latest Chinese tech firm tapping international capital markets to bolster coffers amid ever-intensifying competition with domestic rivals, notably e-commerce heavyweights Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N) and JD.com Inc (JD.O).
It is also joining several sizable Chinese listings in New York this year even as Sino-U.S. trade tensions involving tit-for-tat tariffs rattle global markets.
Chinese video streaming service provider iQiyi Inc (IQ.O) raised $2.42 billion from a Nasdaq IPO in March, and Tencent Music Entertainment, China’s largest music-streaming firm, aims to raise up to 4 billion in a U.S. IPO planned for October.
Set up by former Google engineer Colin Huang in 2015, Pinduoduo will begin trading on Nasdaq under the symbol PDD on Thursday.
It said in
