How quickly things can change! China tech stocks are suddenly back in vogue on Wall Street after more than 2 years of frigid sentiment, as evidenced by an unexpected surge in demand for 2 new offerings from classified ads site 58.com (NYSE: WUBA) and online travel agent Qunar. My initial reaction to the strong demand is relief, since it previously looked like shares of Chinese tech firms might remain in an endless winter after a series of accounting scandals in 2011 that rocked investor confidence. But now I’m just a bit concerned that this sudden explosion in interest may lead to unrealistic expectations for these companies, causing turbulence for their shares.
The long-awaited spring for New York IPOs by Chinese tech firms is quickly gaining momentum, with online lottery site 500.com and app developer Sungy Mobile making their first public filings for new listings. At the same time, online classified advertising site 58.com has provided new data on its first-ever profits as it prepares to list next week. While this sudden flood of offerings looks good for Chinese tech firms that have been waiting up to 2 years to list, the mini-rush also carries the risk of diluting investor attention and dampening demand for some of the smaller players. Read Full Post…
The following press releases and media reports about Chinese companies were carried on October 24. To view a full article or story, click on the link next to the headline.
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Samsung (Seoul: 005930) Apologizes To Chinese Consumers For Faulty Phones (Chinese article)
Chinese Lottery Leader 500.com Files for US IPO (English article)
HNA Group Completes Acquisition of GE Capital’s TIP Trailer Services Group (Businesswire)
Alibaba’s TMall Announces Same-Day Delivery Service (English article)
New Oriental (NYSE: EDU) Announces Unaudited Quarterly Results (PRNewswire)
I want to use one of my final posts for September to take a look at the IPO outlook for Q4, specifically what we might expect to see for new Chinese offerings in New York in the final 3 months of 2013. When the history books are written, this year will probably go down as one of the weakest in recent memory for New York IPOs by major Chinese firms. But that said, I do still expect to see a small flurry of activity in the fourth quarter, based on recent reports of new listing plans and signs that a 2-year-old purge of dubious Chinese firms from US stock markets may be finally wrapping up. Read Full Post…
I’m calling today “IPO Tuesday” because there are quite a few interesting news bits involving Chinese listing plans, led by an unexpected report that Internet giant Tencent (HKEx: 700) is eying Singapore for a listing for its popular WeChat mobile messaging service. That same report cites a source saying that Tencent itself eventually aims to complement its existing Hong Kong listing with a dual listing in New York — another unexpected twist for one of China’s most dynamic Internet companies. Meantime, China’s largest investment bank CICC is also making headlines with word of a listing plan, as Internet company 500wan.com moves ahead with its own New York IPO. Read Full Post…
A new wave of offshore Chinese Internet IPOs that I’ve been expecting for a while now never seems to materialize, with only 2 major new offerings in the last year. I’ve mostly given up trying to predict when that wave will come, though we’re seeing some signs of a possible year-end flurry of activity with word of 2 new listing plans. According to the latest media reports, classified ads website 58.com and lottery website 500.com are both aiming to make New York IPOs by the end of this year, aiming to raise a combined total of up to $250 million. Read Full Post…
