Didi raises US$4.4b in US IPO, offers more shares

Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Global Inc raised US$4.4 billion in its United States initial public offering, pricing it at the top of its indicated range and increasing the number of shares sold, the company said.

Didi sold 316.8 million American Depository Shares, versus the planned 288 million, at US$14 apiece.

This would give Didi a valuation of about US$73 billion on a fully diluted basis and US$67.5 billion on a non-diluted basis.

The decision to increase the deal size came after the Didi investor order book was oversubscribed multiple times, a source said. The company is expected to debut on the New York Stock Exchange today.

Didi's IPO is more conservative versus its initial aim for a valuation of up to US$100 billion, it was previously reported. The size of the deal was cut during briefings with investors ahead of the IPO's launch.

Investors balked at the US$100-billion target given concerns the company's future growth prospects could be curbed by the chance of greater regulation of the ride-sharing sector in the future.

There was also uncertainty over how an antitrust probe into Didi, revealed this month, would impact the business. Didi said it would not comment on "unsubstantiated speculation."

The listing, set to be the biggest US share sale by a Chinese company since Alibaba raised US$25 billion in 2014, comes amid volatile and record IPO activity this year as firms rush to capture the lucrative valuations seen in the US stock market.

"The volatile IPO environment helped to lower (Didi) IPO price and valuation looks attractive," said Douglas Kim, a London-based independent analyst, who writes on Smartkarma.

Didi was co-founded in 2012 by former Alibaba employee Will Wei Cheng, who currently serves as the chief executive officer. Cheng was joined by Jean Qing Liu, a former Goldman Sachs banker and the current president of the company.