The Didi application on a smartphone inside a ride-sharing vehicle in Beijing.
Gilles Sabrie/Bloomberg
Didi Global, the Uber of China, could deliver the second-biggest initial public offering of the year when it begins trading this week.
The Chinese ride-hailing behemoth has filed to sell 288 million American depositary shares at $13 to $14 each, a prospectus said. Four such shares represent one class A ordinary share. This means Didi could raise as much as $4 billion if it prices on the high end.
The Beijing company plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker DIDI.
Didi is scheduled to price its deal on Tuesday and trade Wednesday, a person familiar with the situation said. The company’s valuation could soar past $60 billion.
Didi’s offering comes during another busy week for IPOs. At least 16 companies are scheduled to price this week, including Krispy Kreme. The doughnut chain is expected to begin trading on Thursday.
At $4 billion, Didi Global would take top honors as the largest IPO in the second quarter, Dealogic said. It would also rank second in terms of size for the year. Coupang (ticker: CPNG), which collected about $4.6 billion in March, was the year’s biggest IPO, Dealogic said.
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and J.P. Morgan are the underwriters on the Didi deal.
Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Temasek Holdings have agreed to buy $1.25 billion worth of shares, the prospectus said. Morgan Stanley (MS), one of the underwriters on the Didi IPO, is buying $750 million, while Temasek, a Singapore state-owned investment company, is looking to scoop up $500 million, the filing said.
Didi, of Beijing, provides a smartphone app that lets users connect with vehicles and taxis for hire. Founded in 2012, it operates in nearly 4,000 cities, counties, and towns across 15 countries, its prospectus said. It had more than 493 million annual active users as of March 31.
Didi is known for successfully pushing Uber Technologies (UBER) out of China after the U.S. company lost a bruising price war and ended up selling its operations to Didi for a stake. Uber, which is not selling shares in the IPO, will see its percentage of voting power drop to 6.4% from 12.8% after the offering. SoftBank Group (SFTBY), one of Didi’s bigger shareholders, falls to 10.7% from 21.5%, while Tencent Holdings (TCEHY) tumbles to 3.4% from 6.8%. SoftBank and Tencent are also not selling shares.
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