Kuaishou’s headquarters will be unveiled on November 5, 2020 in Beijing, China.
VCG | Visual China Group | Getty Images
GUANGZHOU, China – The shares of Chinese short video company Kuaishou rose nearly 200% at the open with its debut in Hong Kong.
The tech firm raised 41.28 billion Hong Kong dollars ($ 5.32 billion) from the initial public offering (IPO) after pricing its shares at 115 Hong Kong dollars each, at the top of the expected range.
Kuaishou shares opened at 338 Hong Kong dollars.
The main business of the company is a short video app and it earns money from users who buy virtual gifts to give to their favorite streamers. Kuaishou is also campaigning for new areas such as e-commerce.
Kuaishou said the IPO was overwritten with high demand. If the so-called totalotment option is exercised, which allows the investment bank to issue more shares, Kuaishou could raise more than $ 6 billion.
Ten cornerstone investors led by Capital Group and involving BlackRock and Fidelity invested in the IPO.
The listing of Kuaishou will whet an appetite for Chinese technology enterprises, just as Beijing intensified its investigation into the sector in areas ranging from antimonopoly to data protection. In November, the Chinese government introduced rules regarding direct shopping, which could affect Kuaishou.
The exchange is also a victory for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which succeeds in attracting technology companies and secondary listings to the forefront. U.S. companies, including Alibaba and JD.com, have also raised money in Hong Kong. According to CNBC, Chinese video company Bilibili, which is listed on Nasdaq, also submitted a secondary listing in Hong Kong.
Kuaishou is heavily confronted in China by competitors such as Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok owned by ByteDance, as well as Tencent’s WeChat messaging program.