Meituan Dianping, the China-based local services platform backed by a host of corporates filed today for an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The company is targeting more than $4bn in the offering, three people with knowledge of the deal told Reuters, and it is reportedly seeking a valuation of about $60bn.
Formed by the 2015 merger of group buying platform Meituan and online local listings service Dianping, Meituan Dianping now oversees an online platform that covers a range of services such as travel and entertainment booking, food delivery and ride hailing.
Those services also include bicycle rental as of April this year, when the company agreed to acquire Mobike for $2.7bn. Other recent investments include milk tea retailer Heytea and India-based online food ordering service Swiggy.
Meituan Dianping increased its revenue from RMB13bn in 2016 to RMB33.9bn ($5.1bn) the following year, but its losses rose from RMB5.8bn to RMB19bn in the same period.
The IPO will follow $9.9bn in equity funding, $2.6bn of which was secured pre-merger from investors including e-commerce firm Alibaba, which divested much of its stake in early 2016, internet group Tencent, electronics producer Xiaomi and conglomerates Fosun and Wanda.
Sequoia Capital, General Atlantic, Hillhouse Capital, Fidelity Management and Research, Northern Light Venture Capital, Temasek, FountainVest Partners, Trustbridge Partners, Qiming Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Walden International were also earlier backers.
Meituan Dianping added $3.3bn from undisclosed investors in January 2016 before Tencent led a $4bn round in October 2017 that also featured travel booking service Priceline Group, valuing the company at $30bn.
The 2017 round included Sequoia Capital, GIC, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Trustbridge Partners, Coatue Management, IDG Capital, Tiger Global Management and China-UAE Investment Cooperation Fund.
Tencent is the company’s largest investor, holding 20.1% of its shares through various subsidiaries. Sequoia Capital, the next largest investor, owns approximately 11.4% while Priceline (now known as Booking Holdings) holds 1.6%, Alibaba 1.4% and Xiaomi 0.2%.
Other notable shareholders include Trustbridge (3.6%), Coatue Management (3.2%), Hillhouse and Tiger Global (3.1% each), DST Global (2.7%), Capital Today (2.4%) and GIC (1.8%).
Goldman Sachs (Asia), Merrill Lynch Far East and Morgan Stanley Asia are the sponsors for the offering. China Renaissance Securities is financial adviser for Meituan Dianping.