What’s Going On Here?Animation-focused streaming platform Bilibili sold shares in Hong Kong on Tuesday, as more Chinese companies opt to bring their stocks closer to home. What Does This Mean?The appetite among investors for fast-growing tech firms just won’t quit, and it’s no different in Asia: the region’s technology, media, and telecoms firms have sold over $20 billion worth of shares so far this year. Bilibili already has a listing in the US, but just like tech giants JD.com and NetEase before it, the company opted to sell its newest shares – 25 million of them, to be precise – in Hong Kong. And sure, it was competing against a much bigger company for investors’ attention, with Chinese search giant Baidu selling its own shares in Hong Kong just last week. But Bilibili’s well-known early backers Tencent, Alibaba, and Sony might’ve helped make sure investors showed up for its sale just fine. Why Should I Care?The bigger picture: China and America are still worlds apart.
It’s not hard to see why Chinese companies are returning home to raise money, given all the US’s blacklistings, forced sales, and threats of cutting their shares from the country’s stock market altogether. And while some investors might’ve been hoping a change in US leadership would thaw the US and China’s relationship, the first meeting between the administrations last week showed no signs of that happening.
Zooming out: Tech stock market listings keep on coming.
Denmark-based Trustpilot just became the first European company to list its shares on the UK stock market this year, and its stock rose 16% following its debut early on Tuesday. That might buoy Deliveroo, which is set to be valued at $12 billion – or six times this year’s estimated sales – at its own stock market listing in early April. That’s half the multiple of the US’s DoorDash, but some investors argue that it should be higher – especially since Deliveroo counts tech behemoth Amazon among its early investors. | 