Tencent-backed Yeahka seeks $300m in Hong Kong IPO
The company aims to seek a listing hearing as soon as February.
Yeahka, a Chinese payment technology services provider, is planning to raise about $300 million in an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, according to Bloomberg.
The company aims to seek a listing hearing as soon as February after it filed an application with the city’s bourse on 12 November, noted people close to the matter who asked not to be identified as the discussions are private.
CLSA, Nomura Holdings and ABC International Holdings are the joint sponsors of the deal, according to the prospectus.
Tencent Holdings became one of Yeahka’s shareholders in 2012, a year after the payment platform was founded, according to its preliminary prospectus. It also counts Japan’s Recruit Holdings and venture capital firm Greycroft Partners among its investors.
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Liu Yingqi, Yeahka’s chairman and co-founder, was the general manager of TenPay, Tencent’s payment infrastructure platform.
Yeahka is China’s second-largest nonbank independent QR code payment service provider, with about 12% of market share in 2018, according to the prospectus, citing data by Oliver Wyman.
The paytech had about 4.8 million active payment service customers as of 30 June.
Details of the offering, including timeline and size, could still change as deliberations continue, note the Bloomberg sources. Representatives for Yeahka and Tencent did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
