China's Full Truck Alliance exploring $1 bln Hong Kong listing - sources

  • 10/29/2021
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HONG KONG, Oct 29 (Reuters) - China’s Full Truck Alliance is preparing a dual primary listing in Hong Kong in 2022 that could raise about $1 billion, said three sources with knowledge of the matter, joining a wave of share sales in the city by U.S.-listed Chinese companies. Full Truck, which styles itself as the “Uber for trucks”, raised nearly $1.6 billion in its New York initial public offering in June, making it the second-largest U.S. listing of a Chinese company this year. The company, known as Manbang in China, seeks to launch the Hong Kong float as soon as early next year, said the people. The fundraising target is dependent on market conditions and the trading of its American depositary shares (ADS) at the time, one of the sources added. Full Truck did not respond to requests for comment. The sources could not be named as the information was private. Backed by high-profile investors including SoftBank’s Vision Fund and Tencent Holdings, Full Truck is pursuing the Hong Kong listing at a time when it remains under a cybersecurity probe from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). The CAC said in early July it was scrutinising Full Truck and online recruiter Khanzhun Ltd, owner of Zhipin.com, alongside ride-hailing group Didi Global Inc as part of investigations aiming to “prevent national data security risks and safeguard national security”. All three companies went public in New York in June. Full Truck’s planned float shows that such companies are still exploring fundraising opportunities in the Asian financial hub, despite a dour outlook for their shares in the current regulatory environment. Full Truck’s ADRs have dropped to around $14.7, versus the IPO price of $19. A growing number of New York-listed Chinese firms have already either wholly or partially reduced their exposure to U.S. bourses by going private or returning to stock markets closer to home via second listings. Such moves have been triggered by heightened scrutiny and stricter audit requirements for U.S.-listed Chinese companies from American regulators amid political tensions between the countries. Full Truck, formed in 2017 out of a merger between two digital freight platforms Yunmanman and Huochebang, runs a mobile app that connects truck drivers to people that need to ship items within China. (Reporting by Julie Zhu and Scott Murdoch in Hong Kong; Editing by David Holmes)

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