Ping An Healthcare and Technology, China’s largest healthcare and online medical platform by MAU in 2016, is going to be the first tech unicorn to list on HKEX this year, leading a blockbuster IPO year.
As a unit of Ping An Insurance, China’s largest insurer by market value, Ping An Healthcare and Technology, also known as Ping An Good Doctor, applied for a stock market floatation in January this year and has seen its share 115 times oversubscribed, according to Hong Kong local media Ming Pao. The IPO will begin on May 4 and the company is expecting to raise as much as US$1.1 billion, reports Bloomberg.
Seven cornerstone investors, including BlackRock, GIC, and a unit of Thailand’s CP Group, agreed to buy around US$550 million in the company’s offering.
“Ping An Good Doctor aims to build the world’s largest ecosystem of healthcare,” the company’s Executive Director WANG Tao, former VP at Alibaba, recently told media.
Founded in August 2014, Ping An Good Doctor has 192.8 million registered users as of the end of 2017. Its MAU reached 32.9 million, up 487.5% compared with the same period in 2015. The company provides online healthcare and wellness services including online consultation, health mall, and health management.
The company generated hefty losses of RMB 785.2 million (around US$ 124.5 million) in 2016 and RMB 614.2 million (around US$97.4 million) in the first nine months of 2017, despite a 240% surge in its revenue during the same period.
In China, the market size of internet healthcare industry reached RMB 10.9 billion (around US$ 1.7 billion) in 2016 and is expected to grow to RMB 198 billion (around US$ 31.4 billion) by the end of 2026, according to the consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.
Ping An Healthcare and Technology faces competition from Alibaba Health in health mall businesses and Tencent-backed We Doctor in online consultation and appointment.
After a share redesignation, the currently issued dual-class shares will be subdivided into single class shares. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Market will announce the result of consultation for dual-class share listing on Tuesday. If the city accepts the reform, companies can apply on as soon as April 30 this year, HKEX Chief Executive LI Xiaojia told local media HKEJ last week.
