Tech companies prepare for jumbo IPO season in Hong Kong and Shanghai
Chinese tech companies are raring to go in 2021, with two companies aiming to IPO, and five planning secondary listings in China.
Seven Chinese tech companies plan to list on stock markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong in the coming months: Lenovo, Megvii, Bilibili, Tencent Music, Vipshop, Joyy, and Kuaishou. Five would be secondary listings.
STAR market
- Lenovo, listed in Hong Kong, announced (in Chinese) it would issue Chinese depository receipts (CDR) in the Shanghai STAR market (Science and Technology Innovation Board).
- Megvii, the U.S.-blacklisted artificial intelligence and facial recognition firm, also plans to list CDRs on the STAR market soon, according to an announcement (in Chinese) from China Securities Regulatory Commission.
Hong Kong
- Kuaishou, a video-sharing application similar to TikTok, plans to IPO in Hong Kong during the first week of February, according to Tencent News (in Chinese).
- Short-video app Bilibili, listed on NASDAQ, has confidentially filed for a secondary listing in Hong Kong, according to CNBC.
- Music streaming company Tencent Music, online discount sales website Vipshop, and Joyy, a company that owns the video-based social media platform YY, are also seeking secondary listings in Hong Kong in the second or third quarter of this year, according to Nikkei. Tencent Music and Vipshop are listed on NYSE and Joyy was listed on NASDAQ.
Vipshop and Joyy legal issues
Soon after the listing news came out, Vipshop was probed for suspected unfair competition, according to an announcement (in Chinese) published on January 14 local time by China’s State Administration for Market Regulation.
Joyy is also involved in legal issues. It was sued for violations of the Federal Securities Laws, according to Globe Newswire. Globe Newswire reported that analyst Muddy Waters announced that it would short Joyy, calling the company “a multibillion-dollar fraud.”
