Chinese Online Car Sales Firm Autohome Plans $1b Second Listing In Hong Kong

Autohome Inc., a Chinese online car-sales website, is planning a second listing in Hong Kong that could raise about $1 billion, people familiar with the matter said.

New York-listed Autohome, which counts Ping An Insurance Group Co. as its largest shareholder, is working with advisers on the Hong Kong share sale, the people said. An offering could happen as soon as early next year, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.

Deliberations are at an early stage and details including size and timeline could still change, the people said. A representative for Autohome didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

US-listed Chinese firms are eyeing share sales in the city to hedge against further deterioration in Sino-US relations and to expand their investor bases. The companies seek to follow in the footsteps of Yum China Holdings Inc., JD.com Inc. and NetEase Inc., whose Hong Kong second listings have raised a combined total of almost $10 billion.

Three other New York-listed companies including express delivery giant ZTO Express Cayman Inc. are planning to kick off second listings in Hong Kong as soon as this week, providing a boon to the stock exchange which is seeing a flurry of activity from both initial public offerings and such listings.

Autohome’s shares have risen 15.1% this year, giving it a market capitalisation of about $11 billion. The Beijing-based company allows car dealers and automakers to market their products through its website and also provides an online marketplace for used car sales, according to its website. It raised about $153 million in its US IPO.

Ping An Insurance bought a 47.7% stake in Autohome from Telstra Corp. for $1.6 billion in 2016. A year later, the second-largest Chinese insurer acquired another 6.5% from the Australian telecom operator, boosting its holdings to 54.2%.

Bloomberg