By Scott Murdoch
(Reuters) -JD Logistics will price its shares between $HK39.36 and $HK43.36 each as the company aims to raise up to $3.4 billion, according to the company's filings, in one of Hong Kong's largest share sales in 2021.
The logistics offshoot of JD (NASDAQ:JD).com Inc will sell 609.1 million shares in the deal which is 10% of the company's total shares, the filings said.
An over-allotment option, or so-called greenshoe, exists to sell a further 91 million shares that would raise up to a further $510 million.
At that size, JD Logistics will be one of the biggest deals in Hong Kong this year following the Kuaishou Technology IPO in late January which raised $5.4 billion.
The company recorded 22.4 billion yuan ($3.5 billion) in revenue in the first quarter of 2021, up 64.1% from the same period in 2020.
Its gross profit for the quarter reached 230.7 million yuan ($35.8 million), down 72.7% from the same time last year, which it blamed on the pandemic impact and adding 60,000 workers to its headcount during the year.
In its prospectus, JD Logistics said it expected an insignificant impact on its business from the Chinese government's tighter anti-monopoly regulations of internet platform businesses.
The company, it said, controls 2.7% of the integrated supply chain logistics market.
JD Logistics' IPO is expected by analysts to be a barometer of investor appetite towards major share sales following volatility in global equities markets over the past week, led by concerns inflation is starting to emerge around the world.
JD Logistics will be valued at $34 billion at the top of the price range and seven high profile cornerstone shareholders led by SoftBank Group Corp's Vision Fund and Temasek have taken shares worth up to $1.53 billion, or 45% of the IPO, according to the filings.
The final price will be set on Friday and the stock will start trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on May 28.
JD Logistics said 55% of the funds raised would be spent on upgrading its logistics network in the next 12 to 36 months, while a further 20% would go towards technology development.
JD.com spun off its logistics unit into a standalone entity in 2017 and then opened up its delivery and warehousing services to third-party companies.
JD.com carried out a Hong Kong secondary listing in June last year which raised $3.87 billion.
($1 = 6.4367 Chinese yuan renminbi)