FULL Truck Alliance Co., a China-based Uber-like trucking startup, is looking to raise as much as US$1.57 billion in a initial public offering (IPO), which would make it one of the biggest U.S. listings by a Chinese company this year. The company, backed by investors including SoftBank Group Corp. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., is offering 82.5 million American depositary shares at between US$17 and US$19 apiece, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. At the top end of the price range, Full Truck Alliance could raise as much as US$1.57 billion from the IPO, which would make it the largest U.S. listing for a Chinese company this year, according to data provider Refinitiv. Chinese vaping firm RLX Technology Inc. raised US$1.4 billion in its U.S. IPO in January. Full Truck Alliance’s offering also has a provision for underwriters to issue additional greenshoe shares, which would likely push it past RLX’s total. Those figures are expected to be dwarfed in the coming weeks when China’s largest ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing launches its IPO, which is expected to be the biggest share sale of the year. Reuters has previously reported that Didi could raise as much as US$10 billion from its stock market flotation. Full Truck Alliance will follow the successful debut by Kanzhun Ltd., the Chinese online recruitment platform whose shares almost doubled in the first day of trade on Nasdaq last week. Kanzhun’s US$912 million offering priced at the top of the marketed range, unclogging the pipeline for share sales by China-based companies after several others had put plans for U.S. listings on hold. Chinese firms have raised US$8.4 billion in U.S. IPOs this year, more than four times the amount this time last year. Full Truck Alliance, which styles itself as “Uber for trucks” and is more popularly referred to as Manbang in China, intends to use the proceeds for investment in infrastructure development and technology innovation, expansion of service offerings and general corporate purposes including working capital needs and potential acquisitions and investments. The company posted net revenue of 2.58 billion yuan (US$400 million) in 2020, with its net loss widening to 3.47 billion yuan from 1.52 billion yuan in 2019. (SD-Agencies) | 