Property Platform KE Holdings to Complete Dual Primary Listing in Hong Kong
KE Holdings, a Chinese real estate trading platform, announced on Wednesday that it plans to be listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) by way of introduction, with Goldman Sachs and CICC as co-sponsors.
KE Holdings expects its Class A common shares to start trading on the HKEx on May 11. The company also disclosed its latest ownership structure in the announcement. Specifically, CEO Stanley Peng holds 4.8%, executive director Shan Yigang holds 2.7% and Tencent holds 10.8%.
A “dual primary listing” means that both markets are major listing places for one company, and even delisting on one exchange will not affect its status on the other exchange, which can better protect the interests of shareholders.
KE Holdings was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on August 13, 2020. It was added to the “pre-delisting” list on April 21 of this year by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Regarding this, the company responded that it has been actively seeking possible solutions to protect the interests of shareholders to the greatest extent. It will continue to ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations of China and the United States, and will maintain its status as a listed company on the New York Stock Exchange when conditions permit.
Listing by way of introduction does not involve new share financing, and it is suitable for enterprises with an abundant cash flow. By the end of 2021, KE Holdings had cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments totaling 56.1 billion yuan ($8.49 billion).
The announcement shows that KE Holdings’ revenues were 46 billion yuan in 2019, 70.5 billion yuan in 2020 and 80.8 billion yuan in 2021. The total transaction volume was 2,127.7 billion yuan in 2019, 3,499.1 billion yuan in 2020 and 3,853.8 billion yuan in 2021. In these three years, the net losses of KE Holdings were 2.18 billion yuan, 2.778 billion yuan and 525 million yuan, respectively.
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Based on the integration of online and offline, Agent Cooperate Network serves as the underlying operating system, and the company connects a wide range of consumers and service providers, effectively improving the real estate transaction service experience. At present, KE Holdings is making efforts in the interior design market. In middle and late April of this year, it announced the completed acquisition of Shengdu, a domestic interior design firm.
