HONG KONG — Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing is seeking to raise up to $4 billion in an initial public offering in the U.S, according to its latest regulatory filing.
The IPO would be one of the biggest by a Chinese company in the U.S. since Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group Holding went public in 2014. But Didi appears to have scaled back expectations as earlier reports suggested that it would seek to raise up to $10 billion.
The company, backed by SoftBank Group and Tencent Holdings, is looking to sell 288 million American depositary shares within a price range of $13 to $14, according to a regulatory filing. At the top end, the company would be valued at around $67 billion, or almost the same as in a 2018 fundraising. Each ADS represents four ordinary shares.
Didi had once targeted a valuation of as much as $100 billion in the IPO, according to people familiar with its intentions, but preliminary investor meetings led it to lower its sights.
“The discussions revealed investors considered such valuation as lofty amid regulatory scrutiny and lack of profit visibility for cash-guzzling international operations and other services such as food delivery and electric vehicles,” a person close to the transaction said.
Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter of the IPO, has indicated interest in subscribing to shares worth $750 million at the midpoint of the IPO range. Singapore government investment fund Temasek has said it is keen to take up shares worth $500 million, according to the prospectus.
Didi is the latest Chinese company to shrug off tensions between Washington and Beijing as it aims to tap the U.S. capital markets for their greater liquidity and investor demand for high-growth businesses.
But its IPO also follows signs that Beijing is stepping up regulatory action against major technology platforms, including imposing a record 18.2 billion yuan ($2.81 billion) fine on Alibaba. In March, Didi was fined 1.5 million yuan for “improper pricing behaviors.”
Reuters last week reported that China’s antitrust regulator was probing whether Didi used anticompetitive practices to squeeze out smaller rivals and if its pricing mechanism was transparent enough.
In its IPO application, Didi said it was among more than 30 Chinese internet companies that met with regulators in April and were asked to conduct self inspections and submit compliance reports. Didi said it has already done so.
Among other Chinese companies seeking U.S. IPOs are hotel chain Atour Lifestyle Holdings and online grocers Dingdong Maicai and Missfresh. The three are seeking almost $1 billion combined.
Some candidates have developed cold feet at the last moment though. Tencent-backed social media platform Soulgate suspended its $185 million Nasdaq IPO this week just days before listing and Caixin reported on Friday that bike-sharing operator Hello, backed by Ant Group, has put its plan for a New…