Selfie touch-up app Meitu to launch HK$5bn IPO

Officials say they chose to list in Hong Kong because they have confidence in the city as a global financial hub

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(L-R) Gary Ngan King-leung, chief financial officer, Cai Wensheng, founder, executive director and chairman, and Wu Xinhong, founder, executive director and chief executive officer of Meitu, announce their IPO plans in Hong Kong on Friday. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 8:40pm, 2 Dec 2016Updated: 9:03pm, 2 Dec 2016

Meitu, the Chinese photo-editing app maker, is to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong next week, and hopes to begin trading on December 15.

Xiamen-based Meitu, which makes apps used to touch up selfie photos, will offer 57.4 million shares in Hong Kong, 10 per cent of its global offering. The price will range between HK$8.50 and HK$9.60 per share, raising between HK$4.9 to HK$5.58 billion globally, the company said on Friday.

It would be the biggest Hong Kong first-time share sale by a technology company since Alibaba.com Ltd’s US$1.7 billion offering in 2007. New York listed Alibaba Group Holdings owns the South China Morning Post.

Meitu officials said they chose to list in Hong Kong because they have confidence in the city as a global financial hub.

Wu Xinhong, founder, executive director and chief executive officer of Meitu. Photo: Dickson Lee

“Most of our fans are in China, so it made sense to list in Hong Kong,” said founder and chairman Cai Wensheng. “We hope that these users can also be our shareholders.”

Meitu racked up a 2.2 billion yuan loss for the first six months of the year, and expects to remain in the red until the end of next year.