Alibaba-backed Best seeks US$932m from IPO

HONG KONG: Best Inc, a Chinese logistics company backed by Alibaba Group, is launching a United States initial public offering (IPO) that is seeking as much as US$932 million (RM3.93 billion) to fund an expansion of its logistics and supply chain network, develop new technology and open more convenience stores.

The company, led by Johnny Chou, a former Greater China president for Alphabet Inc’s Google, plans to list on the New York stock exchange and the IPO will be equivalent to 16.4 per cent of the firm’s enlarged share capital.

China was the world’s biggest logistics market, notching up US$1.6 trillion in annual revenue last year, with demand for express delivery services expected to jump 17.9 per cent annually in the six years to 2021, said Best.

The offering will include an issue of 53.56 million new American Depositary Shares (ADS), each representing one class A ordinary share, in an indicative range of US$13 to US$15 each, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.

Existing shareholders, including private equity firms CDH Investments, China Renaissance Capital, state-owned Everbright Financial Holding Investment Holding and a unit of Goldman Sachs Group Inc are selling another 8.54 million ADSs.

Chief executive officer Chou is offering one million shares while his brother George Chow, the company’s chief strategy and investment officer, is selling 250,000 shares.

Best follows a number of Chinese logistics companies in going public. They include S.F. Holding, YTO Express and STO Express which listed in Chinese markets, and ZTO Express, which raised US$1.4 billion with a New York listing in October.

The IPO is slated to be priced on September 19 and its market debut is set for the following day. Reuters