JD.com’s finance unit raises $2 billion

JD.com Inc’s finance arm has raised at least 13 billion yuan ($1.96 billion) in fresh equity from Chinese investors, doubling its valuation ahead of an expected initial public offering, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The fundraising underscores investor enthusiasm for big, privately held Chinese technology companies, even as public valuations falter.

This week, smartphone maker Xiaomi completed the world’s largest tech IPO in almost four years, but saw its shares fall on debut in Hong Kong even after pricing its deal at the low end of its offered range.

JD Finance’s fundraising round, which kicked off late last year, establishes its valuation at 120 billion yuan, the sources told Reuters.

The valuation is double the roughly 60 billion yuan JD Finance was estimated to be worth after it was split from JD.com, China’s second-largest ecommerce firm, in mid-2017.

More investors could yet join the fundraising, said one of the sources, meaning that JD Finance’s final valuation may rise further.

Big investors in this round include CICC Capital, a unit of investment bank China International Capital Corp (CICC), brokerage China Securities, private equity firm Citic Capital and BOCGI, Bank of China’s investment arm, the sources said.

JD Finance said the fundraising has yet to be completed and declined to comment further.