Giant Interactive Group Inc, developer of China's most popular
online game last year, and a shareholder may raise US$801 million
in the largest US initial public offering by a Chinese company
since at least 1999.
The Shanghai-based company and the daughter of its chief
executive officer will sell almost 57.2 million American depositary
receipts, equivalent to a 22-percent stake, at US$12 to US$14 each,
according to a document posted yesterday on the Website of the US
Securities and Exchange Commission.
Giant Interactive is raising funds to finance capital
expenditure and potential acquisitions. Sales of online games in
China may more than triple to US$3 billion in 2011, from last
year's US$815 million, according to a forecast by International
Data Corp, a market research firm.
Chinese companies have raised US$3.3 billion in US IPOs so far
this year, more than the last two years combined, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg News.
Nasdaq-quoted ADRs of Perfect World Co, a Beijing-based online
game developer, have nearly doubled since a US$217 million IPO in
July.
Three-year-old Giant Interactive, formerly known as Shanghai
Zhengtu Network Technology Co, began offering its first product, ZT
Online, on a commercial basis in January 2006. An October 12 filing
estimated that the company's first-time public share sale will
raise as much as US$100 million.
(Shanghai Daily October 19, 2007)
