Chinese C-Store Chain Bianlifeng Looks At $500M IPO

Chinese convenience store startup Bianlifeng is looking to go public in the U.S. with an initial public offering (IPO) that could raise roughly $500 million, Bloomberg reported Thursday (July 8), saying the Beijing-based company filed for the IPO confidentiality, citing people close to the matter.

Bianlifeng is working with advisors on the sale which could happen this year, the sources said, and has named former Goldman Sachs investment banker Deborah Wei as its CFO.

News of the IPO filing comes as China has been taking action to curtail listings by Chinese companies in foreign markets. Regulators have stepped up their oversight of Chinese companies already trading in overseas markets. “Regulators in Beijing are planning rule changes that would allow them to block a Chinese company from listing overseas even if the unit selling shares is incorporated outside China,” per Bloomberg.

Bianlifeng operates a chain of cashier-less stores with unmanned shelves in more than 20 Chinese cities, including Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai. Customers can buy items at these stores by scanning QR codes.

Bloomberg notes that the company operates in a “competitive and cash-burning sector” that has attracted a lot of investor attention, but has also been hit fairly hard by COVID-19.

That’s in keeping with what we’ve seen stateside. As PYMNTS reported in January, the number of American convenience stores dropped by 1.6 percent in 2020 due to a COVID-related decline in gas sales and a general slowdown of brick-and-mortar retail.

Some industry players responded by going the high-tech route. For example, the Hudson convenience store chain announced plans to roll out Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology at its locations, typically found at airports and other transit hubs.

The system automatically charges customer credit cards and emails the receipts, similar to what Amazon does with its Amazon Go stores.

And 7-Eleven upgraded its traditional brick-and-mortar business with features like a mobile wallet, delivery service, self-checkout options and a popular customer loyalty program.

Last year also saw a significant number of convenience store consolidation deals, with 7-Eleven paying $21 billion in cash for roughly 3,900 Speedway stores, the largest such deal ever recorded.