The startup behind a TikTok-style video app rocketed in its Hong Kong market debut, making the latest demonstration of investor hunger for initial public offerings and for high-growth technology companies.
Shares in Kuaishou Technology nearly tripled from their IPO price in early trading Friday, implying a market value of more than $ 160 billion, versus nearly $ 61 billion when the share sale was priced.
Kuaishou is backed by the Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. TCEHY 1.48% and competes with ByteDance Ltd., the closely held Chinese firm behind TikTok and its domestic sister app, Douyin. The $ 5.4 billion initial public offering is the world’s largest in more than a year, according to Dealogic.
The offering is the latest in a string of hot IPOs in Hong Kong, many involving Chinese technology startups or other companies catering to China’s increasingly affluent consumers. Last year, for example, the bottled-water group Nongfu Spring Co. 9633, -2.42% jumped in its market debut, while the abortive dual listing of Ant Group Co. in Shanghai and Hong Kong generated trillions of dollars of demand.
In Friday morning trading, Kuaishou’s stock nearly tripled to 320.20 Hong Kong dollars a share, compared with an IPO price of HK$ 115, equivalent to $ 14.80. The surge echoed a huge leap in gray-market trading on Thursday afternoon.
An expanded version of this story can be found at WSJ.com