• Tencent (OTCPK:TCEHY) – backed Kuaishou Technology seeks to raise as much as $5.4B in Hong Kong, selling 365M shares at HK$105 – HK$115 ($13.55 – $14.84), source Bloomberg.
• The short video startup is the main rival to ByteDance’s TikTok in China. The company will start taking investor orders from Monday through Jan. 29 and is slated to list on Feb. 5.
• The greenshoe option is for additional 54.78M shares which could take the total amount raised up to $5.7B – $6.2B. The IPO will value Kuaishou between $55.6B – $60.9B, pre greenshoe.
• Kuaishou is attempting the world’s biggest internet IPO since Uber’s $8.1B U.S. share sale in May 2019 and could become Asia’s largest since Budweiser Brewing’s APAC Ltd.’s $5.8B float almost two years ago.

• The IPO has 10 cornerstone investors, who agreed to subscribe for $2.45B of stock.
• Kuaishou was founded in 2011 by Su Hua, who used to work at GoogleChina, and Cheng Yixiao, a former developer at Hewlett-Packard.
• It was initially conceived as an app to share animated GIFs, but the company moved to a short video social media platform in 2013 and added live streaming capabilities in 2016.
• Tencent has about a 21.6% stake in Kuaishou, and other backers include venture capital firms DCM, DST Global and Sequoia Capital China.
• Previously (Nov. 6, 2020): Tencent-backed Kuaishou Technology files for $5B IPO – Bloomberg

By: Mamta Mayani