Alibaba-backed Chinese delivery firm Best Inc to file for IPO in US

LOGISTICS company Best Inc. is planning to raise US$750 million from an initial public offering (IPO) in the US, and is betting on a surge in the e-commerce industry to boost business in China.

Best Inc., which is backed by Alibaba, was founded by the former Greater China president of Alphabet Inc., Johnny Chou. The firm made a securities filing on Monday that said it aims to raise the money by listing on the New York Exchange or NASDAQ.

However, there’s no information about the number of shares it’s planning to sell or any indicative price range.

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The news comes despite the fact that Best Inc. has yet to make a profit – in the first quarter of the year, it reported a net loss of CNY422.8 million (US$61.8 million). But it also reported a more than doubled increase in revenue in the same quarter to CNY3.25 million.

The increase is attributed to an increase in freight and express delivery businesses in the world’s biggest logistics market. China spent nearly US$1.6 trillion in 2015, and express delivery is expected to spike 22.8 percent year-on-year between 2016 to 2021 in terms of parcel volume, said Best Inc.

The company’s largest revenue stream comes from its express delivery unit, followed by freight delivery and supply management services.

Alibaba is the company’s biggest shareholder, owning a 23.4 percent stake. Chou himself owns the second-largest stake at 14.7 percent.

Additional reporting by Reuters

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