June 30, 2021- 10:00 a.m.
HONG KONG, – Chinese riding hailing giant Didi Global Inc (DIDI.N) raised $4.4 billion by pricing its shares at $14 each in its upsized New York initial public offering on Wednesday.
Didi sold nearly 316.8 million American Depository Shares (ADS), versus the planned 288 million.
A representative for Didi declined to comment.
At $4.4 billion, Didi would be the second largest U.S. listing by a Chinese company on record, after Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s $25 billion debut in 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The IPO shows investors are backing Didi despite Beijing’s scrutiny of Chinese internet firms, which has stoked uncertainty ahead of its debut.
The price, with the additional shares sold, would give Didi a market value of more than $67 billion, based on the outstanding shares listed in its filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. That’s well below the peak of a range that had stretched up to $100 billion as recently as a few months ago.
Even though it is set to rank among the year’s biggest listings, the relatively modest showing by Uber Technologies Inc.’s peer and onetime rival reflects both investors’ increasing caution over pricey growth stocks, and China’s recent crackdown on its biggest tech players.
Didi’s IPO comes in a year that’s on track to set a record for first-time share sales, with almost $351 billion raised to date. More recently, creeping inflationary pressures have injected volatility into the IPO market.
The company plans to use the IPO funds to invest in technology, grow its presence in some international markets and introduce new products, according to its U.S. filings. It’s planning to make its debut in Western Europe this year, Bloomberg News reported in February, and has invested heavily in so-called community buying, one of the hottest e-commerce growth areas in China.
The offering is being led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. In all, Didi appointed 20 advisers to manage the IPO. Its ADSs, four of which represent an ordinary share, are slated to start trading on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DIDI.
