(Reuters) - Londian Wason New Energy Tech is targeting a valuation of up to $1.7 billion in its U.S. initial public offering, the copper foil maker said on Monday, in what could be the biggest New York listing of a Chinese company in more than a year.
The move will be a crucial test of investor appetite for Chinese IPOs in the U.S. as Beijing encourages more domestic champions to list closer to home and sharpens scrutiny around firms pursuing offshore IPOs. Chinese listings in New York have dried up over the past year as geopolitical tensions between the world’s two biggest economies escalated.
Shenzhen, China-based Londian Wason is seeking up to $78.6 million by offering roughly 3.6 million American Depositary Shares (ADS) priced between $20 and $22 apiece.
"The offering itself is relatively small compared with the larger Chinese deals seen in previous years, which means a successful debut would be encouraging rather than a definitive reopening of the market," IPOX Research Associate Lukas Muehlbauer said.
"The business is benefiting from growing battery demand and has recently returned to stronger growth and profitability, but investors will watch its reliance on a few large customers."
Beijing approved Londian Wason's planned New York IPO in December, one of few U.S. listing applications cleared by the China Securities Regulatory Commission over the past year.
The company, whose major backers include South Korea's SK Group and Mirae Asset, sells electrolytic copper foil globally and is led by co-CEOs Guanran Wang and Guangling Zhou.
Harvest Global Capital Investments, Hithium Global and certain other investors have indicated interest in buying $50 million, $7 million and $30 million worth of ADSs, respectively, according to Londian Wason's prospectus.
Cantor, Huatai Securities, CMB International, US Tiger Securities, Fortune Securities and VC Brokerage are the underwriters for the offering.
Londian Wason will list on the NYSE under the symbol “FOIL.”
Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Ananda
Source: Reuters