JD.com, the largest online retail company in China in terms of transaction volume, filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States to raise $1.5 billion, according to its regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The Chinese e-commerce giant was formerly known as 360buy Jingdong Inc has 35.8 million active customers, 18,005 professionally trained delivery staffs, 1,453 delivery stations in 460 cities and 82 warehouses in 34 cities in China. JD.com receives approximately 211.7 million orders in 2011, 2012, and during the first nine months of 2013.
JD.com rapid growth
During the first nine months of 2013, JD.com generated $8 billion revenue and $10 million net profit. The Chinese online retailer said its business is growing rapidly given the fact that it delivered profit this year compared with losses in the previous two years.
“We are a technology-driven company and have invested heavily in developing our own highly scalable proprietary technology platform that supports our rapid growth and enables us to provide value-added technology services,” wrote JD.com in its regulatory filing.
According to the company, its technology platform is capable of processing as much as 30 million orders per day.
JD.com intends to use the proceeds from selling American depository shares to acquire more land rights, build new warehouses, and expand its distribution. The company also plans to make acquisitions.
Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) and UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) serve as underwriters of JD.com’s public offering.
Investors
Some of the investors of JD.com include Saudi Arabia’s billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s firm, Alwaleed’s Kingdom Holding Co. with a 5% stake; and Tiger Global Management with a 22% stake.
Data from Bloomberg showed that JD.com’s IPO will be the largest in the United States filed by a Chinese internet company. In 2005, China’s search engine giant, Baidu Inc (NASDAQ:BIDU) raised $122 million from its public offering in 2005.
According to people familiar with the plans of JD.com, it management wants to avoid listing its public offering at the same time with the potential IPO of Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd.
