China Literature makes stellar public debut following $1B Hong Kong IPO

China Literature, the e-publishing business backed by Tencent, enjoyed an impressive debut as public company with its share price rising as high double during its first day on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The business raised over $1 billion from the listing which saw it spin out from Tencent. The listing price was set to HK$55 and the share valued reached HK$110 in early trading, going on to close the day at HK$102.5. That jump of 86 percent was the biggest first-day gain for a large IPO this year, Reuters noted.

As we wrote earlier this week, China Literature is an Amazon-like e-publishing service that operates in China. Its business claims 9.6 million pieces of work from 6.4 million authors. The business record a 213.5 million RMB ($32.2 million) profit for the first half of 2017, up from a 2.4 million RMB loss one year previous, according to Bloomberg.

The firm plans to spend the capital raised investing in content, which includes new verticals like anime, TV shows and movies.

Earlier this year, TechCrunch wrote that Hong Kong is showing promise as destination for IPOs and China Literature — coupled with Meitu’s IPO in late 2016 — adds fuel to that argument.

Beyond Hong Kong, Southeast Asia-based Sea (formerly Garena), also backed by Tencent, which raised $880 million in a NYSE IPO last month, and is just ahead of gaming firm Razer, which plans to raise $550 million on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this month.

Sogou, another Chinese tech company backed by Tencent, begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange today, Wednesday, after raising $540 million from its listing.