Photo:VCG

The Chinese video streaming platform Bilibili launched its Hong Kong public offering on Wednesday, becoming the third internet firm that has picked Hong Kong as secondary listing since the start of the year, as more Chinese companies are seeking to trade in the international financial center.

The Hong Kong public offering forms part of the global offering of 25 million Class Z ordinary shares and shares are listed on the main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the stock code 9626.

The offering initially comprises 750,000 offer shares under the Hong Kong public offering and 24,250,000 offer shares for the international offering, representing approximately 3 and 97 percent of the total number of offer shares respectively, according to its prospectus released on Wednesday.

The offer price for the Hong Kong public offering will be no more than HK$988 ($127.25) per share.

The company plans to use the net proceeds from the listing to support the growth in number of users and content ecosystem, and development of its community. The flow of funds will also be used in research and development to improve its user experience and strengthen its user-centric commercialization capabilities. Sales and marketing will be key to fuel the company's user growth and raise its brand awareness.

NASDAQ-listed Bilibili has been given the greenlight for a secondary listing in Hong Kong, according to a document filed to the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and published on Tuesday. The document did not specify the amount the firm is looking to raise. Bloomberg News previously reported the number could reach $3 billion, citing insiders.

Bilibili plans to price the offering on March 23. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and UBS Group AG are leading the deal. Shares are expected to start trading on March 29, according to Bloomberg News.

A  leading video platform for the younger generations in China, Bilibili has 200 million monthly active users, of which users under the age of 35 account for more than 86 percent. Total revenue was 12 billion yuan ($1.85 billion) last year, an increase of 77 percent year-over-year.

Besides Bilibili and the search engine giant, Baidu, more Chinese firms listed in the US are planning to jump on the bandwagon to return to Hong Kong for a secondary listing.

Tencent Music and the online travel agency, Trip.com, have also been reportedly placing the secondary listing on the pipeline.

Facing the hostile and risky environment in the US, more Chinese firms have chosen Hong Kong as a safe haven that has more international links.

The Biden administration has continued some policies from the Trump period to crack down on Chinese firms listed in the US. Chinese state-owned oil giant, China National Offshore Oil Corp became the latest Chinese company to be pushed out of the New York Stock Exchange under Biden's watch.

CITIC Securities indicated in a research report for capital markets in 2021 that the Hong Kong market is expected to open the way for the return of 40 leading Chinese firms from the US.

Global Times