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Bilibili Poised to Raise $2.6 Billion in Hong Kong Listing

(Bloomberg) -- Video streaming platform Bilibili Inc. has raised HK$20.2 billion ($2.6 billion) from a second listing in Hong Kong, the third U.S.-listed Chinese company to sell shares in the financial hub this year.

Bilibili priced the Hong Kong offering at HK$808 per share, according to a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Tuesday. The price represents a discount of 2.7% to Bilibili’s Monday closing price of $106.88 on the Nasdaq. The firm sold 25 million shares in the Hong Kong offering.

A rapidly-expanding group of overseas-traded Chinese firms is selling shares in Hong Kong, attracted by hot demand for new listings in the Asian financial center. The wave of equity offerings comes as tensions rise between Beijing and the U.S., where fastest-growing technology firms from around the world have long sought to raise capital.

The trend gathered pace last year, with some $17 billion raised from second listings by the likes of JD.com Inc. and NetEase Inc. The latest to complete an offering, search engine giant Baidu Inc., ended its first day of trading flat on Tuesday after raising $3.1 billion.

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The deals add to what’s already shaping up as a busy year for equity offerings by internet companies, even as investors rotate out of so-called pandemic winners. Asian technology, media and telecommunications firms have been involved in $21.5 billion of share sales this year, a record for the first quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Bilibili, whose backers include Tencent Holdings Ltd., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Sony Corp., started in 2009 as a website serving up Japanese animation to eager young viewers in China. It broadened its offering to incorporate other shows as well as comics and mobile video games, generating revenue from advertising, live-streaming and premium memberships.

Like many other tech companies, it has been a beneficiary of the stay-at-home trend caused by the coronavirus pandemic, with average monthly active users increasing 55% in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Bilibili’s shares are due to start trading in Hong Kong on March 29. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and UBS Group AG are leading the offering.

(Updates with final pricing in first and second paragraphs)

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