Tencent Music Entertainment announced on Monday it is moving forward with its plans to launch its highly-anticipated U.S. initial public offering of up to USD 1.2 Billion after global stock markets were boosted by a truce brokered by U.S. and Chinese leaders in their trade conflict.
The music arm of tech giant Tencent Holdings is looking to raise between USD 1.07 Billion and USD 1.23 Billion in a New York Stock Exchange IPO, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commision.
Tencent Music is offering about 41 million ADS, according to its filing, and selling shareholders will offer an additional 41 million for which the Company won’t get proceeds. In total, the Company and selling shareholders would raise about USD 1.15 Billion at the midpoint of the price range.
At USD 1.23 Billion, the IPO would still be one of the largest by a Chinese company in the United States this year, behind the USD 2.4 Billion raised by video streaming Company iQiyi in March and the USD 1.6 Billion garnered by online group discounter Pinduoduo in July. In total, Chinese companies have raised USD 7.8 Billion from U.S. IPOs so far this year - the biggest amount since 2014 - according to Refinitiv data.
Tencent Music originally planned to launch its offering in mid-October, but decided to delay the IPO over worries the steep global stock market sell-off in the past few months would affect the pricing. The decision by China and the United States to call a 90-day hiatus on their trade war over the weekend sent Asian shares soaring on Monday as markets looked for tensions to ease, at least temporarily.
The music service was created in mid-2016 after Tencent Holdings Ltd. bought a controlling stake in China Music Corp. and combined it with Tencent’s existing streaming business. Tencent Music operates several popular apps including QQ Music and an online karaoke platform. It is benefiting from a broad boom in streaming that has reshaped the music industry.
The Company is targeting a valuation of between USD 22 Billion and USD 25 billion, roughly on par with that of its Swedish music streaming counterpart Spotify Technology, which went public in New York in April and has a market value of USD 24.3 Billion.
It reported a 244% jump in profit in the first nine months of this year to USD 394 Million from USD 114 Million in the same period in 2017. By comparison, its Swedish peer posted a net loss of USD 520 Million over the first nine months of the year.
Tencent said that in the third quarter of this year its music segment had more than 800 million unique monthly active users. Its filing touted its “tremendous growth potential,” citing a report that per capita spending in China on recorded music is expected to more than quadruple from 2017 to 2023.
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