Wanda Sports Falls 36% In Its Trading Debut After US IPO

Wanda Sports Group Co. fell 36% in its trading debut after its US initial public offering raised only $190 million, less than half its earlier goal for the listing.

The American depositary shares priced in the IPO at $8 and then opened at $6. The shares ended the day worth only $5.16 a share, valuing the Beijing-based company at $705 million after the second-worst debut on a US exchange this year.

The outcome was a far cry from earlier aspirations by the unit of Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin’s conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group Co. to raise as much as $500 million. Wanda Sports and some of its investors originally sought to sell 33.33 million shares for $12 to $15 each.

Faced with insufficient demand, the owner of the Ironman triathlon brand had slashed the size and price range before the offering. The targets were lowered to 28 million shares for $9 to $11 each. The offering ended up at 23.8 million shares after existing shareholders abandoned plans to sell 13.3 million of their shares.

The debut crash adds to the poor performance of Chinese companies that have gone public this year in the US including Wanda Sports, 11 of the 18 are trading below their IPO price, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Ruhnn Holding Ltd., a Chinese company that promotes e-commerce through online influencers, fell 37% drop on its first day and ranks as the year’s worst IPO in the US Ruhnn has fallen 70% since its $125 million IPO in April, also making it the worst performer of the 114 listings on US exchanges this year, the data show.

DouYu, Luckin

On average, listings for China-based companies are up 2.5% from their offer price, compared with 31% for all U.S. listings.

DouYu International Holdings Ltd., whose $775 IPO is the largest by a China-based company this year, is down more than 12%. Luckin Coffee Inc., the second-biggest of the group with a $645 million listing, is up 47%.

Wanda Sports, which has had partnerships with FIFA and the Chinese Basketball Association, owns sports properties and generates revenue from events, sponsorship and media pacts.

Its offering was led by Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank AG and Citigroup Inc. The shares are trading on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol WSG.

Bloomberg