Farfetch prices its IPO at $20 a share

• Farfetch priced shares at $US20 apiece, above the $US17-$US19 range that was expected.

• The UK-based online luxury-goods retailer would raise $US885 million in total, well above its previous target.

• Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com acquired a 13.94% stake of Farfetch in 2017, and agreed to buy more Class A ordinary shares after Farfetch's IPO to maintain its ownership stake.

• Fafetch has rapidly grown its customer base, but hasn't yet made a profit.

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Online luxury-goods retailer Farfetch is set to go public Friday through an initial public offering at the New York Stock Exchange. The company priced shares at $US20 apiece, above the $US17-$US19 that was expected. With the current pricing, the company would raise $US885 million, well above its target of $US446.5 million.

In its public filing, the company said its customers are growing rapidly, but it still hasn't made a profit.

"As of June 30, 2018, we had 1,118,047 Active Consumers, up from 796,297 as of June 30, 2017," the company said. "The number of orders for the six months ended June 30, 2018 was 1,305,297, up from 853,195" during the same period in 2017.

Farfetch also established a strategic relationship with JD.com, the second largest Chinese e-commerce site after Alibaba, to grab share in the rapidly growing luxury market in China. A subsidiary of JD.com, Kadi Group, acquired a 13.94% stake of Farfetch on June 21, 2017, and agreed to buy one-third of Class A ordinary shares at Farfetch's IPO price in a private placement to maintain its percentage holding.

The underwriters for Farfetch's IPO include Goldman Sachs, UBS, Allen & Co., and JP Morgan.

Farfetch will trade under the ticker "FTCH."

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