Benzinga | Mar 12, 2021 08:13AM EST

Hong Kong Approves Bilibili's $3B Dual Listing

Chinese video streaming platform Bilibili Inc (NASDAQ: BILI) received Hong Kong stock exchange's approval for its proposed listing, Bloomberg reports. The U.S.-listed tech firm could reportedly raise $3 billion from the share sale. The approval was previously reported by IFR, with the share sale possibility by next week.

* Bilibili would join a throng of Chinese companies, including Autohome Inc (NYSE: ATHM), Baidu Inc (NASDAQ: BIDU), and possibly Tencent Music Entertainment Group (NYSE: TME), seeking a trading foothold in Hong Kong, amidst the trade war and China's increasingly hot market for new listings.

* Bilibili is backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd (OTC: TCEHY), Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA), and Sony Corp (NYSE: SNE). It transitioned from an animated website into a platform generating revenue from advertising, live-streaming, and premium memberships further aided by the pandemic.

* The entertainment platform had a 55% year-on-year jump to 202 million average monthly active users in the fourth quarter of 2020. Mobile device users accounted for over 90% of monthly active users in 2020.

* Bilibili's 2018 New York IPO raised $483 million and made a billionaire out of CEO Chen Rui. The stock has jumped over nine-fold from its original offer price of $11.50, closing at $110.44 each on Thursday, valuing it at $39 billion.

* The company's net loss rose 116% to $127.6 million (827.8 million yuan) in the last quarter of 2020. Meanwhile, the sales jumped 91% to 3.8 billion yuan.

* Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and UBS Group are the lead book runners.

* Price action: BILI stock was down 1.75% at $108.51 in the pre-market session on the last check Friday.