Weibo Corp. said Nov. 26 that it will have a global offering of 11 million of the company's class A ordinary shares.
The Chinese social media platform is offering 5.5 million of its own class shares. Its parent entity, SINA Corp., is also offering 5.5 million of the class B shares it owns in Weibo, which are to be converted from Weibo's class B shares prior to the listing of the latter's class A shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The global offering includes a Hong Kong public offering of an initial 1.1 million class A ordinary shares starting Nov. 29, as well as an international offering of an initial 9.9 million class A ordinary shares, and listing of Weibo's class A ordinary shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's main board under stock code 9898. The total number of shares under the Hong Kong public offering could be increased up to as many as 5.5 million class A ordinary shares of the shares initially available. SINA, meanwhile, expects to grant the international underwriters an overallotment option of up to an additional 1.65 million class A ordinary shares of Weibo in the international offering, or about 15% of the total number of class A ordinary shares initially available.
The Hong Kong public offering's offer price will be no more than HK$388 per class A ordinary share, or US$49.80 per ordinary share. The offer price for the international offering portion may be set higher than, or the same as, the maximum offer price in the Hong Kong public offering. Weibo will set the international offer price on or about Dec. 2. The final price for the Hong Kong public offering will be set whichever is lower between the final price in the international offering and the maximum Hong Kong offer price. The shares will be traded in board lots of 20 class A ordinary shares.
The proposed global offering is subject to market and other conditions. There can be no assurance on the offering's completion as well as on its actual size or terms.
Weibo's American depositary shares, each representing one class A ordinary share of the company, will remain listed and traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. Investors in the global offering will be allowed to purchase only class A ordinary shares and will not be able to take delivery of ADSs. Once listed in Hong Kong, the class A ordinary shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange will be fully fungible with the ADSs listed on Nasdaq.
Weibo plans to use the global offering's net proceeds to expand its user base and engagement, to add more content, for research and development related to user experience and monetization, for selective strategic investments and M&A activities, and for working capital and other general corporate purposes. The company will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the class A shares that SINA owns.
Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC, Credit Suisse (Hong Kong) Ltd., China International Capital Corp. Hong Kong Securities Ltd. and CLSA Capital Markets Ltd. are the joint sponsors. The first three companies and CLSA Ltd. are the joint representatives, joint global coordinators, joint bookrunners and joint lead managers for the global offering.
