JD unit seeks up to US$3.5b in Asia's biggest health IPO

[HONG KONG] JD Health International is looking to raise as much as US$3.5 billion in its Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) in what would be Asia's biggest healthcare listing on record.

The healthcare unit of China's No 2 e-commerce giant JD.com is selling 381.9 million shares at HK$62.8 to HK$70.58 each, according to terms of the deal obtained by Bloomberg News. The price range values JD Health at US$25.3 billion to US$28.5 billion.

JD Health secured six cornerstone investors for its IPO who agreed to subscribed for as much as US$1.35 billion of stock, including Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, Hillhouse Capital and BlackRock.

The planned IPO is set to surpass the US$2.3 billion offering by Japan's Ostuka Holdings Co a decade ago as Asia's biggest listing in the sector, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors have seen a record wave of listings in Asia this year, spurred by strong investor demand amid the coronavirus pandemic.

JD Health is the largest online healthcare platform and online retail pharmacy by revenue in China, according to its prospectus. The company recorded revenues of 8.8 billion yuan (S$1.79 billion) for the first half of this year, up from five billion yuan a year earlier.

JD itself completed a secondary listing in Hong Kong earlier this year in which it raised US$4.5 billion in what is the city's largest first-time share sale this year. The e-commerce giant is also mulling listing its logistics business as soon as next year, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.

Bank of America Corp, Haitong International and UBS Group are joint sponsors for JD Health's IPO. The company plans to price the offering on Dec 1 and list on Dec 8.

BLOOMBERG