China’s Baidu to raise $3B in HK listing

CHINESE internet giant Baidu said it will raise around HK$23.94 billion (US$3.08 billion) in its upcoming secondary listing in Hong Kong at HK$252 per share.

The news sent its shares up 3.88 per cent on March 17 on the Nasdaq, closing at $277.13.

Positioning itself as a leading artificial intelligence (AI) company with a strong internet foundation, the company will use the net proceeds for continued investment in technology, enhancing commercialisation of its innovations centred around AI, growing the Baidu Mobile Ecosystem, enhancing and diversifying monetisation and general corporate purposes, Baidu said in an announcement published on March 17 on the website of the Hong Kong bourse.

According to the announcement, shares will begin trading on March 23, under the stock code “9888”.

According to the Post Hearing Information pack published on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange website last week, Baidu chairman and CEO Robin Li Yanhong holds approximately 57 per cent of voting rights in the company.

Baidu said it has been investing in AI since 2010 to improve search and ad monetisation, and has used its core AI technology engine Baidu Brain to develop new AI businesses.

The document said Baidu held the largest portfolio of AI patents and AI patent applications in China as of October 30, 2020. And its Baidu Open AI Platform, with a developer community of over 2.65 million members, is the largest open AI platform in China, based on the number of developers as of December 31, last year.

Analysts said Chinese enterprises are seeking a more local presence against the backdrop of mounting uncertainties in the US market, and Baidu is the latest to join a wave of US-listed Chinese companies seeking secondary listing deals this year.

Chinese internet titans Baidu,

Alibaba and Tencent are known by the acronym BAT. However, in recent years, Baidu has seemed to lag behind its two other peer rivals in terms of market valuation and growth momentum, said Zhongjing Digital Economy Research Center executive director Chen Duan. He added he believes this secondary listing will help Baidu back into the spotlight and be the centre of the capital market.

Looking ahead, an influx of secondary listings by Chinese mainland-based tech groups will inject new impetus and provide more liquidity into Hong Kong’s capital market, saidWang Chikun, an independent economist.