CHINA’S largest online audio platform Ximalaya will file for its Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) this week after dropping its plans to list in the United States, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the matter. The Shanghai-based company announced Thursday it would not proceed with its U.S. IPO. Instead, it will press ahead with a Hong Kong listing and lodge its preliminary prospectus as early as today, two of the sources said. The size of the float has not been determined, according to the sources. But two of them said the company is targeting a larger amount than the US$500 million they had planned to raise in a U.S. IPO. The company aims to debut in Hong Kong by the end of the year, said one of the sources. Ximalaya did not respond to a request for comment. Ximalaya filed for an IPO in the United States in April, but found itself caught in a shifting regulatory landscape in China that has seen regulators implement a number of new rules targeting technology firms, including reviews of overseas listings by companies that hold the personal data of 1 million or more Chinese people. Ximalaya is backed by tech majors Tencent, Xiaomi, Baidu as well as Sony Music Entertainment, according to its initial U.S. filings. Founded in 2012, Ximalaya had about 250 million monthly active users, nearly a fifth of China’s population, in the first quarter of this year. It offers users a platform to access free or paid content from roughly 5.2 million professional or amateur content creators. The platform remains money-losing, reporting a net loss of 914.7 million yuan (US$141.9 million) in 2020 after reporting losses in the prior two years, according to its prospectus. (SD-Agencies) | 