New terms for Didi’s mega IPO in New York have surfaced. In a new filing, the company says it is aiming for a valuation higher than USD 60 billion. This may be the biggest stock offering in the United States for 2021.
Didi’s 288 million American depositary shares will be priced in the narrow band of USD 13–14 apiece. That means the company intends to raise USD 3.7–4 billion in its initial public offering.
After absorbing Uber’s China operation in 2016, Didi has become the go-to ride service in its home country. Its largest shareholders are SoftBank, Uber, and Tencent, which altogether control 41% of the company.
Aside from ferrying passengers in China and 15 other countries, Didi is also developing its own electric cars, charging networks, and autonomous driving technology, which was demonstrated in a five-hour road test in Shanghai traffic in footage that was released in April.
Didi’s debut on the New York Stock Exchange will follow pandemic-ridden months and lockdowns of various scales in 2020 and 2021, as well as a wide-reaching antitrust crackdown by Chinese regulators.
The company intends to float its shares under the ticker “DIDI.”
Didi is joining the likes of cargo platform Full Truck Alliance, online recruitment portal Boss Zhipin, and online grocers MissFresh and Dingdong Maicai in a torrent of IPOs by Chinese companies in the United States. Meanwhile, some Chinese firms, like Xpeng, are reaching in the opposite direction for homecoming listings.
But not all companies have received the warm welcomes they expected. When Baidu’s shares started trading in Hong Kong in March, investor interest was absent. Its share price rose by a tepid 0.8% on the first day.
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