JD Technology, fintech unit of China's JD.com, engages banks for Hong Kong IPO that could raise up to US$2 billion, source says

JD Technology, the fintech unit of China’s e-commerce giant JD.com, is working with bankers on a Hong Kong listing this year that could help it raise between US$1 billion and US$2 billion, according to a person familiar with the transaction.

The listing plan comes after the company, previously known as JD Digits and JD Finance, withdrew its listing application from Shanghai’s Star Market early last year.

The company’s reduced IPO fundraising target will shrink its valuation by at least 35 per cent from September 2020 when it submitted an application to the Nasdaq-style market to raise as much as 20 billion yuan (US$3.1 billion).

The switch to Hong Kong would also be a shot in the arm for the city’s bourse, which dropped out of the top three global ranking for listings last year, according to lists compiled by leading accounting firms such as EY and KPMG. It was pushed to fourth place by Shanghai, with Nasdaq and New York taking the top two spots.

Hong Kong ranked fourth in the list of global fundraising venues last year. Photo: Handout

JD Technology’s Hong Kong listing plan, first reported by IFR on Monday, if successful, would be the fourth by a JD group company in the city in less than two years.

JD.com, which owns about 36.8 per cent of JD Technology, completed a US$3.8 billion secondary listing in Hong Kong in June 2020, followed by JD Health’s US$3.5 billion listing in the city in December. The group’s logistics unit JD Logistics raised US$3.1 billion last May.

Bank of America, Citic Securities and Haitong International are helping with JD Technology’s IPO, according to the IFR report. These banks were not immediately available for comment on Tuesday. JD.com did not reply to an email and calls from the Post.

The company has filed to the China Securities Regulatory Commission for the proposed listing plan, it added.

Last March, the Post reported that JD Technology was considering to withdraw its IPO application from the Star board because the company felt at the time that it was appropriate because its name, business and senior management team had all changed since the initial listing plan was first filed.

The Beijing-based company in early 2021 decided to postpone its listing plan because of a reorganisation, which saw JD Technology absorbing JD.com’s cloud computing and artificial intelligence operations.

JD.com shares fell 3.3 per cent in Hong Kong in early afternoon on Tuesday. The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell nearly 2 per cent, putting it on course for the biggest drop in two weeks.