Mainland Online Platform Eyes IPO In Hong Kong

A mainland online platform which specialises from food delivery to ticketing services, Meituan-Dianping, is reportedly aiming to raise more than US$4 billion from a first-time Hong Kong listing.

The company, backed by internet giant Tencent, is said to have filed its listing application with regulator and its likely to list in October.

Meituan-Dianping was formed in 2015 after a US$15 billion merger of a food delivery firm and an online restaurant review platform. But losses of the merged company has widened in the past two years as it widens into areas like ride hailing and finance..

The firm unveiled a 19 billion yuan loss for 2017, although revenue more than doubled to 33.9 billion yuan in the year.

The IPO filing comes as mainland smartphone maker Xiaomi is taking orders from retail investors for its blockbuster US$6.1 billion listing – the biggest tech-related listing worldwide since Alibaba’s record-breaking US$25 billion in 2014.

Its also the first company to go public under a new listing structure designed for tech companies and start-ups. Investors have until Thursday to subscribe to the Xiaomi IPO.