Tencent backed video games live-streaming start-up Douyu raised USD 775 million after pricing its US IPO at the low end of its marketed range, as reported by Bloomberg.
The Wuhan-based company and its investors sold USD 67.4 million American depositary shares (ADS) at USD 11.50 each, the lowest offer compared to the initial pricing range of USD 11.50 to USD 14 a share.
China’s largest live-streaming platform finally decided to go public after it postponed in May the launch of its IPO — filed in April to raise up to USD 500 million — in part due to the ongoing China-US trade war tensions.
Yesterday’s deal marks the most significant Chinese offering in the US this year, surpassing coffee chain Luckin Coffee’s initial public offering, which raised USD 561 million two months ago.
The listing followed the company’s main competitor in China, Guangzhou-based Huya, also backed by Tencent, which raised USD 180 million last year in May, as reported by Reuters.
Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan, and CMB International are the underwriting sponsors of the offering.
Douyu will start trading on Nasdaq Global Select Market today under the symbol ‘DOYU’.
The company’s earnings grew largely in the first quarter of 2019 when it reported a net profit of USD 2.65 million and total revenue of USD 220 million. The number of paying users increased by 66.7% compared to the same period last year.
