China’s Didi valued at $107.6 billion in mega US IPO as shares soar
BENGALURU (REUTERS) - China's Didi Global shares soared nearly 19 per cent in their New York Stock Exchange debut on Wednesday, valuing the ride-hailing giant at US$80 billion (S$107.6 billion) in the biggest US listing by a Chinese company since 2014. SoftBank-backed Didi's stock opened at US$16.65, compared with the initial public offering price of US$14 per share. It had priced an upsized offering of 316.8 million American Depositary Shares at the upper end of its US$13 to US$14 range, raising US$4.4 billion. Morgan Stanley Investment Management had indicated interest in subscribing up to US$750 million worth of stock in Didi's IPO and Singapore's Temasek Holdings US$500 million. Didi's listing in New York will be the biggest US share sale by a Chinese company since Alibaba raised US$25 billion in 2014. The biggest Chinese listing in the United States so far this year was Full Truck Alliance, often referred to as "Uber for trucks", which raised US$1.6 billion. Didi, which is also backed by technology investment giants Alibaba, Tencent and Uber, was founded in 2012 by chief executive Cheng Wei as Didi Dache, a taxi-hailing app. It merged with peer Kuaidi Dache to become Didi Kuai...
