Advertisement

Chinese e-commerce company Baozun files for U.S. IPO

(Reuters) - Chinese e-commerce company Baozun Inc filed with U.S. regulators for an initial public offering of American Depository Shares, becoming the second e-commerce firm from the country that has filed to list in the United States this year.

Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and BofA Merrill Lynch are underwriting the IPO, the company said in a preliminary prospectus filed with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.

Alibaba Investment Ltd, an unit of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, is Baozun's largest investor with 23.5 percent stake.

Baozun had about 20 percent market share by transaction value in 2014 in China, according to iResearch Consulting Group, a Chinese Internet research firm.

The country's e-commerce space is dominated by Alibaba, which had a blockbuster debut on U.S. exchanges in September.

Another Chinese e-commerce firm Wowo Ltd filed for an IPO in January and, after a delay of over a month, went public earlier in April in what was a rocky debut.

Baozun, which counts Philips, Nike Inc and Microsoft Corp among its brand partners, intends to list its common stock on the Nasdaq under the symbol "BZUN".

The company's filing included a nominal fundraising target of about $200 million (134 million pounds), but did not reveal how many ADSs were going to be sold or their expected price.

Net proceeds from the offering would be used for ramping up marketing, research and development and infrastructure, Baozun said in the filing.

The company reported net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders of $25.09 million on total net revenues of $255.36 million for 2014.

The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.

(Reporting by Avik Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)