Xunlei’s Incredible Shrinking IPO 迅雷IPO规模缩水 纽约首秀或破发
What once looked like one of the year’s hottest China IPOs, that of video and music sharing site Xunlei, is rapidly looking like one of the biggest failures, the victim to negative publicity about both the company itself and questionable accounting practices of Chinese firms in general. Chinese media are reporting that Xunlei has lowered the price range for its offering, originally set for Wednesday in the US but now moved to Thursday, to $12-$14 per share from a previous $14-$16 due to weak demand. (Chinese article) At that new range, it would raise around $78 million, far less than the $100-plus million it was originally targeting. So what happened on the road to market to derail such a once-promising company, whose backers include local and global search leaders Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) and Google (Nasda
q: GOOG)? At the company level, Chinese media reports that seven major record labels, including Sony Music (Tokyo: 6758) and Warner Music (NYSE: WMG) are suing Xunlei for 20.5 million yuan surely isn’t good. (Chinese article) That figure translates to a relatively small $3 million. but the bigger picture is that China is pushing its major Web sites to rid themselves of pirated music and video, as evidenced by big content deals between the major global media companies and leading online video site Youku (NYSE: YOKU) and Baidu over the last two weeks. Xunlei has much less resources than these two sector leaders, and investors are probably scared that a clean-up of pirated material from the site could lead to a big drop in traffic. From a broader perspective, the IPO is coming to market as sentiment toward Chinese companies has chilled in recent weeks over a recent series of accounting scandals that have undermined investor confidence. With all that going against it, Xunlei is facing strong headwinds as it prepares to join the ranks of US-listed China firms.
Bottom line: Xunlei’s upcoming IPO will struggle out of the gate, and is likely to fall in its New York trading debut amid weak sentiment and a major lawsuit against it.
视频和音乐分享网站迅雷IPO原本是中国今年最热门的IPO之一，受该公司负面报导和中国赴美企业会计丑闻影响，迅雷IPO看似将迅速成为最大败笔之一。中国媒体报导称，由於认购情况不佳，迅雷已将发行价区间从之前的14-16美元下调至12-14美元，并将IPO时间从周三推迟至周四。按照新的发行价区间计算，其融资额将降至7,800万美元左右，远远低於原先上亿美元的目标。迅雷上市进程中到底发生了什麽，致使这样一个曾前途无量、获百度<BIDU.O>和谷歌<GOOG. O>支持的公司陷入当前困境？从公司层面上来看，中国媒体报导称，索尼音乐<6758.T>和华纳音乐<WMG.N>等七大唱片公司起诉迅雷侵权，索赔2,050万元，此事自然对迅雷影响不好。索赔金额换算一下不过300万美元，但该事件的大背景是，中国正敦促国内各大网站清除盗版音乐和视频，优酷<YOKU.N>和百度在过去两周分别与大型全球媒体公司签署内容协议即是例证。迅雷的资源远远少於优酷和百度，投资者或担忧，清除盗版内容，或导致其访问量大幅下降。从更广泛的角度来看，中国赴美企业近期系列会计丑闻重挫投资者信心，迅雷IPO适逢市况不佳之时。综上所有不利因素，迅雷赴美上市将面临强劲阻力。
一句话：迅雷赴美IPO路途多舛，由於市况不佳，并遭大唱片公司侵权起诉，迅雷纽约首秀或将破发。
Related postings 相关文章:
◙ China, US Move to Ease Confidence Crisis 中美合作解决在美上市中国企业的信任危机
◙ Xunlei’s Rich Parentage List Grows 迅雷投资方阵容强大
◙ Youku, TCL Discover Hollywood in New Tie-Ups 优酷、TCL双双联手好莱坞大品牌
