Chinese e-commerce platform Beijing United Information Technology Co. has selected banks for a sale of global depositary receipts in Switzerland that could raise about $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
(Bloomberg) — Chinese e-commerce platform Beijing United Information Technology Co. has selected banks for a sale of global depositary receipts in Switzerland that could raise about $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Shanghai-listed company is working with China International Capital Corp. and Credit Suisse Group AG on the potential share sale, the people said. A listing could happen as soon as end of this year, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.
Deliberations are ongoing and details including size and timeline could still change, the people said. More banks could be added later, they said. Representatives for CICC and Credit Suisse declined to comment, while a representative for United Information didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
United Information operates business-to-business portals that sell everything from paper to fertilizer to cooking oil, according to its website. It also offers a cloud computing platform and is developing an industrial metaverse, the site shows. It raised about 533 million yuan ($73 million) in a Shanghai IPO in 2019, and followed with a 2.5 billion yuan offering the next year.
The company is planning a Swiss listing to expand overseas and to strengthen its international brand image, it said in an exchange filing in August. Its shares have risen around 66% this year, giving the company a market value of about $8.4 billion.
United Information is joining a number of Chinese companies choosing venues in Europe for their overseas fundraising, as policy uncertainties and geopolitical tensions make listings in the US more difficult. Four Chinese firms raised about $1.5 billion in total in Swiss listings in July. While the debuts opened the gate for more GDR sales, they were met with muted trading.
Banks in Hong Kong are increasingly seeing the Swiss listing as an attractive option in the coming year, after shares in the Asian financial hub slumped dramatically following China’s Communist Party Congress.
–With assistance from Gao Yuan.
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