Chinese online sports-lottery operator 500.com Ltd had filed for an application to conduct a USD150 million initial public offer in the United States. There was no indication as to the number of American Depositary shares it would be offering or at what price the shares would be pegged.
500.com had announced its IPO plans alongside the IPO plans of fellow Chinese internet businesses such as 58.com Inc and Qunar Cayman Islands Ltd. The latter two are deep into planning their own IPOs by the end of the month according to information obtained by Bloomberg. With these offers, the total number of IPOs by Chinese firms would be at six, which is triple the size of the number of Chinese IPOs in 2012.
500.com offers online betting services as well as through mobile applications. It had more than doubled its users to 18.4 million by September's end, up from 8.8 million by the end of 2010. According to the documentation filed, 500.com intends to utilize the proceeds for technology upgrades of the company as well as for marketing purposes.
500.com had applied to be listed in the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol WBAI. The offering would be managed by Deutsche Bank AG.
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