Concerns over the trade spat between Washington and Beijing, as well as the recent sell-off in the technology industry, kept delaying the much-awaited initial public offering of Tencent Music Entertainment. However, latest reports suggest that the Chinese music streaming behemoth – which has over 800 million monthly users – might finally go public as early as December 12.
If things go as planned, investors will be able to start placing orders on December 4. In an October SEC filing, the Tencent-backed streaming company had stated its IPO size as $1 billion.
However, a lot still depends on the two-day G20 Summit, to be held in Buenos Aires starting November 30, according to sources close to the matter. While a positive or neutral outcome would seal the IPO date, any negative reports might send the public listing further down the lane.
A slew of financial institutions, including Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Deutsche Bank are working on the share sale.
Tencent Music is made more attractive by the fact that is has a 7.5% stake in its primary rival, Spotify (SPOT), which went public in April this year. The holding was acquired through a stake swap agreement last year. Spotify has been hit hard by the tech sell-off and its shares have tumbled 27% in the last two months.
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The Shenzhen, China-headquartered company, which is projected to have a CAGR of 37% going into 2023, aims to value itself at $30 billion.
As per Bloomberg data, this year’s largest Chinese IPO was made by video streaming service iQiyi Inc, which went public in March, raising $2.4 billion.