Didi rumored to launch HK IPO, increase valuation up to $80 billion

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing (Didi) reportedly will begin the process of becoming a public-listed company as early as the second half of this year and initially chooses to be listed in Hong Kong (HK) stock market, according to a HK media.

Didi is currently valued at around $55 billion. It is expected to be the world’s first ride-hailing company to go public with its valuation reaching $ 70 billion to $ 80 billion.

However, Didi has not made any comment over the above information yet.

Didi wanted to reach a valuation of between $70 billion and $80 billion through an IPO, the Wall Street Journal reported on April 24, citing unnamed sources.

In addition, Didi has been discussing with several investment banks about the feasibility to go public in the second half of 2018, according to a people with knowledge of the matter. The company is also reportedly seeking potential investors.

Another unnamed source revealed that Didi obtained a business transaction value of over RMB 27 billion throughout 2017. It has currently been seeking consultation from several brokers, like CICC, regarding the IPO preparation.

Didi’s CEO Cheng Wei said that the company aims to become the largest mobility platform worldwide and increase users to 200 million within a decade. Besides, its vice president Yang Jun showed Didi plans to operate 1 million EVs by 2020, according to Bloomberg’s report.

Up to now, Didi has completed over 10 rounds of financing, raising capital of nearly $ 20 billion in total. The investors include Tencent, Alibaba, Apple, Foxconn, China Merchants Bank, SoftBank, and DST, etc. In August of 2016, Didi acquired Uber China, its then most formidable rival, which lifted its valuation to nearly $ 35 billion.