Ximalaya has considered listing in either
Hong Kong or the US and has preliminarily
decided to go for a US listing, said the people.
Preparation for the IPO, which will come
next year, will start soon, said the people.
IFR reported last month that the podcast
app operator met potential advisers to
discuss the IPO plan, which could value the
company at about US$5bn.
Ximalaya has completed several rounds
of fundraising since it was established in
- Its investors include smartphone
maker Xiaomi, JD Finance, China Literature
and Goldman Sachs.
The company was valued at Rmb24bn in
2018, according to local media reports.
Ximalaya is China’s top podcast and
audio app with about 470 million users,
according to the company’s website. It
provides a platform for users to access
free or paid content from professional or
amateur providers.
Samller rival Lizhi FM is planning to raise
about US$100m from a US IPO as early as
this year.
A spokesperson from Ximalaya said
the company has no clear IPO plan at the
moment.
› NAYUKI WEIGHS US IPO
Chinese cheese tea and bakery cafe NAYUKI is
considering listing in the US as early as next
year, said people familiar with the situation.
The company is in early stage discussions
with potential IPO advisers, said the people.
In March 2018, Nayuki raised funds in a
private round led by Tiantu Capital which
valued the company at around Rmb6bn,
according to Nayuki’s website.
The company has not set a IPO
fundraising target as yet, said the people.
One of the people said the IPO may raise
about US$300m depending on valuation
and how big a stake the company may sell.
The strong aftermarket performance of
Luckin Coffee has encouraged Nayuki to
look at a possible US listing, said the people.
Luckin Coffee, China’s answer to
Starbucks, raised US$645m from a US
IPO in May. The stock closed at US$20.68
on August 15, 22% above the IPO price of
US$17.
Founded in 2015, Shenzhen-
headquartered Nayuki currently runs
about 200 stores in 15 cities in China. In
December 2018, it opened its first overseas
store in Singapore.
Nayuki did not respond to emails seeking
comment.› HENLIUS BIOTECH TO PRE-MARKET IPOFosun-backed SHANGHAI HENLIUS BIOTECH plans
to start pre-marketing this week for a Hong
Kong IPO of about US$500m, which will
be the first sizable deal to test investor
appetite after weeks of protests in the city.Henlius sought listing approval from
the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong last
Thursday, said people close to the deal.
The listing timetable has not been
decided as yet beyond next week’s pre-
marketing exercise, said the people.
Henlius, a subsidiary of Shanghai Fosun
Pharmaceutical and Fosun International,
first filed a listing application in December- It re-filed an application in July after
the original one expired.
Founded in 2010, the biopharmaceutical
company has launched one drug
commercially and has more than 20
biologics drug candidates in its pipeline
focusing on oncology and autoimmune
diseases.
It posted a loss of Rmb158m in the first
three months of 2019, compared to a loss of
Rmb67.8m over the same period in 2018. It
reported a yearly loss of Rmb505m in 2018.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, CICC,
Citigroup, CMB International and Fosun Hani
are the joint sponsors. UBS is the financial
adviser.
› CGN POWER MOBBED BY RETAILCGN POWER has clawed back much of the
institutional tranche of its Rmb12.6bn IPO,
the largest A-share IPO in more than a year,
after the retail portion was oversubscribed
404 times.
China’s largest nuclear power producerUBS Sec sponsors second Star IPO
Equities Frontier Biotechnologies to raise Rmb2bn on new tech boardUBS Securities, the securities joint venture of
the Swiss bank in China, is bringing another
Star board IPO to the market.
The bank is the sponsor and joint
bookrunner with Citic Securities for the
Rmb2bn (US$285m) IPO of FRONTIER
BIOTECHNOLOGIES, a pharmaceutical company
which develops HIV treatments.
UBS is one of the two securities JVs backed
by international investment banks that have
worked as sponsors for tech board IPOs
so far. The other is Zhong De Securities,
Deutsche Bank’s JV in China.
Other Sino-foreign JVs are keen to grab
business opportunities from the tech board
too with Goldman Sachs Gao Hua Securities
and Morgan Stanley Huaxin Securities
participating as joint bookrunners on Star
IPOs.
Different from other A-share bourses, the
tech board requires sponsors to buy 2% to
5% of the IPOs and to hold the shares for atleast two years. Such investment is expected
to be made through a mainland subsidiary of
the international banks.
As many international banks still do
not have a controlling stake in their JVs,
investing through a subsidiary is not an
option, according to two ECM bankers in
Hong Kong.
“We will see more China JVs sponsoring
tech board IPOs once they are approved to
control the JVs,” said one of the bankers.
As of August 13, 152 companies have
applied to list on the Star board to raise a
combined Rmb138.8bn, five of which have
terminated the IPO process. So far, 28
companies have listed on the board and all
trade above water.
Frontier is the second tech board issuer
sponsored by UBS, following Shanghai
Haohai Biological Technology, a Hong
Kong-listed company, which cleared the
Rmb1.48bn IPO hearing on July 15 and isstill waiting for approval from the China
Securities Regulatory Commission.
Frontier plans to offer up to 90m A-shares,
or 25% of its enlarged capital.
Proceeds will be used for three
pharmaceutical projects, for sales channels,
and to replenish working capital.
The company posted net losses of
Rmb42.3m and Rmb247m on revenues of
Rmb2.3m and Rmb1.9m in Q1 2019 and full-
year 2018, respectively.
One of the listing criteria of the tech
board states that issuers need to have an
expected market capitalisation of at least
Rmb4bn but it does not include revenue
or profit requirements. Companies in the
pharmaceutical industry must have at least
one core product under Phase II clinical trials.
According to the IPO filing, Frontier’s
valuation is about Rmb5.4bn after the latest
round of investment.
KAREN TIAN, FIONA LAU