Snowball Finance Beijing Internet Information Technology Co., an online financial information and social network portal backed by Ant Group, is looking into a $300 million American IPO, Bloomberg News reported Friday.
Citing “people with knowledge of the matter,” Bloomberg said Snowball could file for the initial public offering as soon as this month, although the timing and size of the offering could change. Snowball declined to comment on the story.
Founded in 2010, Snowball — or “xuequi,” in Chinese — says its goal is to help users build their wealth “like a snowball.” Last year, the company raised $120 million in a series E funding round led by Orchid Asia Group. That followed another funding round that included investors such as Ant Group, Morningside Group and Sequoia Capital China, which raised $170 million.
Assuming Snowball does go forward with its IPO, it will join the long line of Chinese companies listing on American exchanges this year.
As PYMNTS noted late last month, initial public offerings in the U.S. have generated $6.6 billion this year for companies in Hong Kong and mainland China, a record pace that’s eight times as greater than the same period last year, according to data from Bloomberg.
Among the largest companies launching American IPOs were RLX Technology, which has electronic cigarettes and had a $1.6 billion initial public offering, and Tuya Inc., a software company which debuted at $947 million.
This new wave of interest in American IPOs among Chinese companies is happening even as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is imposing new regulations for foreign companies that list on American exchanges. These rules require the companies to give accountants greater access to audits or risk being delisted from the exchanges.
But while these regulations might be a headache for Chinese companies, the U.S. exchanges offer a level of liquidity firms most likely won’t find back home.
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