China's JD.com targets $2b IPO - report

According to Bloomberg, the company - formerly known as 360Buy - is seeking to raise about $2 billion and has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch and UBS to work on the offering. A listing in the US is most likely but Hong Kong is also being considered.

Established in 2004, JD.com is China's largest online retailer after Alibaba Group's TMall and is described as the country's leading B2C direct sales e-commerce company. Alibaba Group is also expected to go public this year, probably in the US.

JD.com raised $400 million through a Series F round of funding led by Kingdom Holding, an investment company controlled by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a Saudi Arabian billionaire, in February 2013. The commitment came barely three months after Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Tiger Global invested $400 million and nearly two years after DST Advisors and led a consortium that put in $1 billion.

Early investors in the company included Capital Today, Luminary Capital and Bull Capital Partners.

JD.com has achieved compound annual growth of 150% in terms of gross merchandise volume in recent years and currently offers more than seven million products.

As of November 2013, it had more than 140 million registered users and tens of thousands of suppliers across China. The company has seven major fulfillment centers, 31 warehousing centers, 1,400 delivery stations and more than 300 pick-up stations.

Chinese companies raised $907 million through IPOs in the US last year, more than five times the 2012 total. These include VC and PE-backed players 58.com, Qunar, Sungy Mobile, 500.com and Autohome.

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• Topics
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