Youku.com, the mainland's biggest online video services provider, expects to raise about US$593 million from its secondary public offering of 12.31 million American depositary shares (ADSs), which it has priced at US$48.18 each.
In a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday, Youku.com said each ADS represents 18 Class A ordinary shares of the New York-listed company. Most of the shares will be issued by Youku.com, while the rest will be sold by certain undisclosed pre-initial public offering (IPO) investors.
The Beijing-based company, whose brand stands for 'what's best and what's cool' in Chinese, estimates the gross proceeds from the secondary offering to reach US$400 million. It will not receive any proceeds from the sale made by the unidentified group of pre-IPO investors.
Goldman Sachs (Asia) acted as sole bookrunner for the secondary offering. Allen & Co, Barclays Capital, Piper Jaffray & Co and Pacific Crest Securities acted as co-managers.
'The primary objective of this follow-on [offering] is to bolster capital reserves to enhance our leadership position,' chairman and chief executive Victor Koo Wing-cheung said earlier this month.
Internet market-monitoring firm iResearch estimated that in 2010 Youku.com commanded 37 per cent market share in terms of total user time spent viewing online videos on the mainland and a 21 per cent share in terms of local advertising spending in online video portals.