Ping An’s fintech arm One Connect Financial Technology expanded its US initial public offering (IPO) to $312 million on Thursday, a day after disclosing plans to cut its share sale by nearly half, Reuters reported.
Why it matters: One Connect’s new target valuation of $3.7 billion is significantly lower than last year’s $7.5 billion set during its maiden funding round.
- One Connect has adjusted its IPO plan multiple times in the past year. It had initially planned to raise $1 billion in Hong Kong at a valuation of about $8 billion. In June, the company changed its listing destination to New York partly due to the political uncertainty in the region.
Details: One Connect is reportedly selling around 31.2 million American depositary shares (ADS) at $10, giving it a valuation of around $3.7 billion, according to an anonymous source cited by Reuters.
- Earlier this month, TechNode reported the company was aiming to raise as much as $504 million by offering 36 million ADS at $12 to $14 per share.
- On Wednesday, the company lowered its target range to $9 to $10 per share with a goal to sell 26 million ADS, cutting the target by almost half.
- One Connect will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “OCFT” on Friday.
- One Connect did not immediately respond to TechNode’s request for comment.
Fintech firm One Connect plans to raise $468 million in downsized IPO
Context: One Connect focuses on providing financial technology solutions to small- and mid-sized financial institutions. The company, also backed by SoftBank’s Vision Fund, has become one of the largest commercial blockchain platform operators in recent years.
- According to its filings to the US regulator, One Connect’s losses widened to more than RMB 1 billion for the first nine months of this year from RMB 579 million in the same period a year earlier.