It has been a big year for IPOs in China with Chinese companies raising $38.6 bn through listings in 2017 to date, according to financial markets platform group Dealogic.
Continuing this trend, China’s securities regulator on Friday approved nine IPOs that will raise a total of RMB9.5 bn ($1.43 bn).
The latest – separate from the nine recently announced – is China Literature, the online reading platform, which is being spun out of Tencent, raising up to $1.1 bn as the country’s tech sector gets set for a major quarter of initial public offerings.
China Literature, which combines a library, self-publishing and a Kindle-type service, has set its indicative price range of HK$48 to HK$55 ($6-$7) for its listing of 151.37 mn shares, amid a flood of filings for other deals, which include Ppdai, Yixin, Lexin and Jianpu Technology.
Yixin highlights another trend: many companies coming to market are backed by China’s tech elites – Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu and JD.com. Auto financier Yixin, backed by the latter trio, is expected to raise about $200 mn.
Like Qudian, which listed on October 17 raising $900 mn, fellow online lender Lexin is heading to the US and is expected to raise around $600 mn. Jianpu Technology, a financial comparison site similar to Lending Tree in the US or MoneySuperMarket in the UK, recently filed for its IPO.
There are also several education company IPOs waiting in the wings: RISE Education, backed by private equity company Bain, has filed for a $100 mn IPO and is set to be followed by Four Seasons Education.
But for all this apparent good news, Shanghai stocks actually posted their biggest one-day slide in 11 weeks today on the back of expectations for the new wave of IPOs and a further rise in bond yields, signaling tighter liquidity.
