Ping An's OneConnect launches US IPO of up to US$504m

Hong Kong

PING AN Insurance's OneConnect Financial Technology launched a US initial public offering (IPO) of up to US$504 million on Tuesday, reducing both its target offering size and valuation.

The unit of China's biggest insurer by market value, Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd, is selling 36 million American depositary shares (ADSs) at an indicative range of US$12 to US$14 a share, according to its updated prospectus with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The price range values OneConnect at between about US$4.5 billion and US$5.5 billion in its long-awaited public offering, said people with knowledge of the matter. That is well below its US$7.5 billion valuation last year when it raised US$750 million in its maiden funding round from investors including Japan's SoftBank and financial firm SBI Group.

That potentially would make for a down round - a fall in valuation following a new investment - of a tech-related firm.

The float comes as tech investor SoftBank smarts from the abandoned share sale of major portfolio firm WeWork, as well as its first quarterly loss in 14 years dragged down by an US$8.9 billion hit at its giant Vision Fund, through which it invested in OneConnect.

Ping An and OneConnect declined to comment on the latter's valuation. The people declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

OneConnect, which provides technology solutions to small and medium-sized financial institutions, was eyeing a valuation of about US$8 billion and an IPO of up to US$1 billion, sources told Reuters in June.

It changed the listing venue to New York from Hong Kong a few months ago in the hope of achieving a higher valuation, with massive anti-government protests in Hong Kong making markets jittery.

If a "greenshoe" or over-allotment option is fully exercised, the company could raise up to US$580 million. Each ADS represents three ordinary shares, the prospectus showed.

OneConnect had revenue of 1.55 billion yuan (S$300 million) in the first nine months of 2019, up 72 per cent from the same period a year earlier, but losses widened to one billion yuan from 579 million yuan, according to its prospectus.

OneConnect's bookbuilding will run until Dec 12. It is due to begin trading on Dec 13. REUTERS