Shortly after filing for its initial public offering at the end of October, China-based group buying website Lashou priced its shares between $13 and $15 on Monday, and could potentially raise $92.4m from the flotation. [Editor’s note, the flotation was halted a week later.)
Reinet Fund, an investment group spun-off from luxury goods group Richemont, is among the Lashou shareholders looking to make money from the exit, with venture capital fund GSR Ventures and daily deal and group buying investment company Rebate Networks among the major shareholders.
From the $77m it estimates it will make from the IPO, Lashou plans to allocate $20m each firstly towards sales and marketing and secondly to establishing a calls centre and operations centre.
A further $10m will be directed to research and development, $4m to enhancing Lashou’s technology base and $2m towards improving the company’s enterprise resource planning. The remainder will be set aside for general capital and acquisitions, should suitable target companies become available.
In addition, China-based news site Sohu Tech has reported that Lashou has told some of its subsidiaries that it is planning a major change to its business model, shifting towards a straight online retail model. Lashou has yet to officially comment on the report, which quoted unnamed sources from within the company.