JD unit eyes Asia’s biggest health IPO

BEIJING: JD Health International Inc. is looking to raise as much as $3.5 billion in its Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) in what would be Asia’s biggest health-care listing on record.

The healthcare unit of China’s No. 2 e-commerce giant JD.com Inc. is selling 381.9 million shares at HK$62.8 to HK$70.58 each, according to terms of the deal obtained by Bloomberg

News. The price range values JD Health at $25.3 billion to $28.5 billion.

JD Health secured six cornerstone investors for its IPO who agreed to subscribed for as much as $1.35 billion of stock, including Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte, Hillhouse Capital and BlackRock.

The planned IPO is set to surpass the $2.3 billion offering by Japan’s Ostuka Holdings Co. a decade ago as Asia’s biggest listing in the sector, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors have seen a record wave of listings in Asia this year, spurred by strong investor demand amid the coronavirus pandemic.

JD Health is the largest online health-care platform and online retail pharmacy by revenue in China, according to its prospectus. The company recorded revenues of 8.8 billion yuan ($1.33 billion) in the first half of this year, up from 5 billion yuan a year earlier.

JD itself completed a secondary listing in Hong Kong earlier this year in which it raised $4.5 billion in what is the city’s largest first-time share sale this year.

The company plans to price the offering on December 1 and list December 8.