Shanghai-based lending and wealth management unicorn Lufax is looking to raise $2.36 billion in its debut on the New York Stock Exchange, according to the market’s website.
Why it matters: Lufax is one of two Chinese fintech firms looking to raise multi-billion dollar amounts on US exchanges this autumn. Chinese tech companies meanwhile face increasing scrutiny from US regulators and China vies to keep homegrown tech companies from listing abroad.
- Ant Group has filed a draft prospectus to list on Nasdaq, for what could be one of the biggest IPOs in history.
- The Shanghai STAR market, with relaxed IPO rules, is aimed at keeping Chinese tech firms from overseas listings.
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Details: Lufax filed in early October to go public but details have not been released.
- The Ping An-backed giant is selling 175,000 American Depositary Shares priced between $11.50 and $13.50, bringing the higher end of the range to $2.36 billion.
- Lead underwriters are Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Securities, UBS Investment Bank, HSBC, and China PA Securities.
- Lufax’s net profit dipped 2.8% year-on-year in the first half of 2020 to RMB 7.272 billion in H1 2020, according to a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In the same time period, its total revenues increased by 9.45%, the company said.
Context: Lufax was founded in 2011 by Ping An Insurance as a peer-to-peer lending company, but has gradually expanded its business into wealth management.
- In the six months ended June 30, 2020, less than 3.5% of the revenue of its tech platform came from wealth management services.
- Ping An reportedly now owns 43% of the unicorn after several rounds of investment.
- Lufax has raised $3 billion to date, according to startup information site Crunchbase. It was valued at $38 billion after its latest funding round in 2018, Reuters reported.
- In April, US-listed Chinese coffee startup Luckin Coffee admitted to fabricating RMB 2.2 billion in sales. Since, streaming platform Iqiyi and edtech company GSX Techedu have both admitted that they are under investigation for fraud by the SEC.
- Congress has proposed a bill to enhance regulatory oversight of US-listed Chinese companies, and a working group convened by the US president has made similar recommendations to the SEC.
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- The prospects of increased regulatory oversight haven’t stopped Chinese tech firms from tapping into US capital markets. Electric vehicle companies Xpeng and Li Auto both went public in the US in the third quarter.
- JD.com’s fintech unit is one of the Chinese tech companies planning to float shares on the Shanghai STAR market.