China’s state-run CITIC bank is planning an investment of $100 million USD between UberGlobal and UberChina, a source from CITIC bank has told Technode. The same source noted that the current valuation for Uber’s China operations is $7 billion USD.
CITIC-CP Asset Management, the branch of CITIC currently planning the injection, will split the investment between UberChina (20%) and UberGlobal (80%).
The proposed investment plan also gives UberChina an IPO deadline, stating that if Uber does not IPO its China subsidiary by 2020, the investment would be returned at 8% compounded interest in either UberGlobal shares or cash.
Just last week, a leaked document attained by Reuters suggested that the parent company could go public much sooner, within 18-24 months.
The latest investment from the second-tier, state-owned Chinese bank shows the willingness of state backers to invest in ride-sharing tech. Earlier this month, Chinese sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation injected an unknown investment into Uber’s largest China competitor Kuaidi Didi. The same fund revealed a $400 million USD investment in Singapore’s GrabTaxi, a ride hailing app that shares an investor with Alibaba.
Last week Beijing municipal government also launched their own government-funded taxi hailing app, attempting to elbow their way into the growing market.
Uber has been a stubborn supporter of its own China expansion,putting $1.1 billion USD behind the effort for 2015. They have also been seeking $1 billion USD in funding solely from Chinese parters. Chinese internet company Baidu also made a 9-digit USD Uber investment in December last year.
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