Digital publisher China Reading, which is backed by Tencent Holdings, is selecting underwriters for an initial public offering. It could raise as much as $800 million, people familiar with the matter said. The company, China’s biggest e-book and online publishing business, is considering listing in Hong Kong, sources said.
China Reading, also known as Yuewen Group, has not yet finalised a total fundraising target, but the deal could range between US$600 million and US$800 million, one of the people told IFR.
China Reading was formed from the merger of Tencent Literature and Shanda Cloudary in 2015. The new company became the leader in the online and e-book industry, similar to Amazon in the US.
As of March last year, China Reading had about 10 million e-books in its catalogue, covering more than 200 categories.
China Reading has some 600 million registered readers across its nine e-reading platforms, the company said. About 70 per cent of the company’s revenue comes from e-reading via mobile apps and websites.
Wu Wenhui, chief executive of China Reading, said at a press conference last year that the goal for the company was to make available to users a cloud library that contains all the works of literature in history.
Source: Reuters (06 Feb 2017)
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