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Business

EXCLUSIVE AstraZeneca exploring options for COVID-19 vaccine business – executive

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  • AstraZeneca to have clarity on future of vaccines by year-end
  • Exec Dobber says no decision taken yet on future of COVID-19 vaccine
  • Dobber says vaccine is no distraction

LONDON, July 29 (Reuters) – AstraZeneca (AZN.L) is exploring options for the future of its COVID-19 vaccine and expects greater clarity on the matter by the end of 2021, a senior executive told Reuters on Thursday.

The review of the future of the vaccine comes after a series of setbacks in its race to produce a shot for the world. Executives emphasised it was too early to say what the decision on the vaccine’s future would be.

AstraZeneca agreed to work with the University of Oxford on its COVID-19 shot last year despite having no prior vaccine experience, taking on the project with a pledge not to make a profit during the coronavirus pandemic.

While a $39 billion dollar deal to buy rare drug firm Alexion is much more integral to the company’s business strategy, the COVID-19 vaccine has quickly become the public face of the company’s efforts during the coronavirus pandemic.

“A small group of people reporting into Mene (Pangalos, research chief) and myself are thinking about: is this a sustainable business?” AstraZeneca Executive Vice President and President of the BioPharmaceuticals Business Unit Ruud Dobber said, referring to the vaccines business.

“We need to have that discussion with our senior executive team, and then with the board of AstraZeneca. We are exploring different options, but it is far too early at this stage to conclude that (process).”

Dobber added that “before year-end, we will have more clarity”.

“Hopefully before the year ends, we will have a better view how to move forward in the next few years,” he said.

“If you ask me, is the vaccine business a sustainable business for AstraZeneca for the next five or 10 years, that big strategic question is under discussion.”

FAR TOO EARLY

AstraZeneca has been criticised by the European Union for its supply of shots, and is being sued by the bloc. The vaccine has also faced age restrictions due to rare clots linked to the vaccine and its application for U.S. approval is longer than expected.

Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said he had no regrets over getting involved in COVID-19 vaccines as the company has made an “enormous difference”.

It has delivered one billion doses around the world globally and is celebrated by the British government as a national success story of the pandemic. read more

Dobber said that AstraZeneca’s “number one commitment” was to deliver hundreds of millions of vaccine doses that were covered by current contracts.

“It’s not a distraction,” he said.

He added that the company would keep its pledge to deliver a broadly available and accessible vaccine. Soriot has said that the vaccine will always be kept affordable for low-income countries, even when the company moves away from a no-profit model.

Results released on Thursday showed sales of the vaccine in the second quarter more than tripled to $894 million from the first three months of the year. read more

But, unlike for rivals including Pfizer (PFE.N), it remains a drag on earnings overall, and Dobber said that if the vaccine business were to be sustainable, the company would have to stop making a loss on it.

“It doesn’t mean that moving forward we will not make a bit of profit,” Dobber said. “It’s not sustainable to do it without profits, but it’s too early now to speculate about that.”

Reporting by Alistair Smout in London and Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Jason Neely, Josephine Mason and Jan Harvey

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Business

Lordstown Motors says hedge fund may buy up to $400 mln of its stock

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A Lordstown Motors pre-production all electric pickup truck, the Endurance, is seen after being merged with a chassis at the Lordstown Assembly Plant in Lordstown, Ohio, U.S., June 21, 2021. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

July 26 (Reuters) – Lordstown Motors Corp (RIDE.O) said on Monday hedge fund YA II PN Ltd has committed to purchase up to $400 million of the company’s shares, over a three year period, coming at a crucial time when the electric-truck maker faces heightened regulatory scrutiny related to its SPAC merger and vehicle pre-orders.

Under the deal, YA can receive nearly 35 million Lordstown shares upon execution of the agreement, subject to the approval of Lordstown shareholders, as well as a small discount on the shares whenever purchased, according to a regulatory filing.

Lordstown’s shares rose 3.9% to $7.77 and are on track to snap a three-day streak of losses.

Some industry observers called it a good deal for Lordstown.

“Existing shareholders are not taking $400 million worth of dilution. It’s like a standby commitment on the part of YA to buy stock when Lordstown says it needs more money,” said Erik Gordon, professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

“I was surprised. It’s more like the knight in shining armor than the vulture at the carcass.”

The agreement comes a month after Lordstown warned it may not be able to continue as a “going concern.” The company had since attempted to allay fears by saying it was in talks with multiple parties to raise funds.

The investor, YA II PN Ltd, is a fund managed by Mountainside, New Jersey-based investment manager Yorkville Advisors Global LP.

Yorkville has investments in more than 700 companies in over 20 countries, according to its website. Its current active sectors include healthcare, metals and mining, energy, technology, and cannabis. Some of its investments include cannabis deals network Leafbuyer.com, copper ores company Copperstone Resources and biotechnology company CytoTools.

Yorkville Advisors Global did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.

(This story corrects typo in headline to say “up to”)

Reporting by Eva Mathews and Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru and Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Krishna Chandra Eluri

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Business

Tencent snaps up British video game developer Sumo in $1.3 bln deal

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  • Shares surge in early trading to all-time high
  • Tencent offers 513p per Sumo share
  • Sumo boss says he is keen work with Tencent

July 19 (Reuters) – China’s Tencent (0700.HK) will buy British videogame developer Sumo (SUMO.L) in a $1.27 billion deal, it said on Monday, adding new titles to its growing portfolio of chart-topping videogames.

The purchase, which will boost the Chinese internet giant’s presence globally, brings together Sumo’s racing and snooker games with Tencent’s more high-profile range of games that includes Call of Duty’s mobile version.

Shareholders in Sheffield-based Sumo will get 513 pence in cash per share, a 43% premium to the last price and valuing the company at 919 million pounds, Tencent said, sending Sumo’s shares surging 42% to a record high.

The deal comes days after China’s market regulator decided to block Tencent’s plans to merge videogame streaming sites, Huya (HUYA.N) and DouYu, on antitrust grounds.

It is the second major deal involving a British video game company over the past year, following U.S. video game maker Electronic Arts’ (EA.O) deal to buy Britain-based Codemasters. read more

Tencent, with stakes in companies that make Fortnite and League of Legends, is the world’s second-largest videogame group by revenue after Sony.

“Chinese deals may imply a higher regulatory risk, but we see no likely resistance or counterbid,” Jefferies analysts said.

EXPERTISE AND RESOURCES

Sumo, which counts Microsoft’s Xbox, Amazon Game Studios, Apple, Google and BBC as its clients and partners, has seen its value soar since a 2017 listing on LSE’s junior market AIM at 100 pence.

“The Board of Sumo firmly believes the business will benefit from Tencent’s broad videogaming eco-system, proven industry expertise and its strategic resources,” non-executive chairman Ian Livingstone said.

Tencent owns 8.75% and is the second-biggest shareholder in Sumo, which has 14 studios in five countries and released the video games including Hotshot Racing, Sackboy: A Big Adventure and WST Snooker last year.

Sumo’s boss Carl Cavers said he and co-founders Paul Porter and Darren Mills would reprise their roles.

“The opportunity to work with Tencent is one we just couldn’t miss,” said Cavers, who founded the company 18 years ago.

($1 = 0.7261 pounds)

Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Edmund Blair

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Business

Musk trial asks the $2 bln question: Who controls Tesla?

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July 9 (Reuters) – Does Elon Musk control Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) or does Tesla control Elon Musk?

More than $2 billion hinges on that question as a trial kicks off on Monday. Shareholders allege that Musk used his control of Tesla to force the company in 2016 to rescue SolarCity, saving the solar panel maker – and Musk’s investment in the company – from bankruptcy.

The union pension funds and asset managers leading the case want Musk to repay to Tesla the cost of the $2.6 billion deal and to disgorge the profits on his SolarCity stock. If they win, it would be one of the largest judgments against an individual.

The two-week trial in the Court of Chancery in Wilmington, Delaware, will boil down to whether Musk, who owned about 22% of Tesla at the time of the deal, is that rare controlling stockholder who does not hold a majority stake.

“I think it’s going to be very hard for the court to ignore the reality that Elon Musk is Elon Musk and his relationship with Tesla,” said Ann Lipton, a professor at Tulane University Law School.

She said the case might present an unusual situation given Musk’s celebrity status, his personal ties to Tesla board members and those board members’ financial ties to SolarCity.

“Put it all together, and it might be enough to count as a controlling shareholder,” she said.

Few executives dominate their company’s image as much Musk, known for taunting regulators, battling naysayers and personally engaging with his 57 million Twitter followers.

“We are highly dependent on the services of Elon Musk, Technoking of Tesla and our Chief Executive Officer,” said Tesla’s 2020 annual report.

Plaintiffs allege that Musk drove the negotiations and even pushed Tesla’s board to raise, not lower, the price for SolarCity.

A higher price benefited Musk, who was the largest shareholder of SolarCity, with a stake of about 22%, as well as four members of Tesla’s board, who directly or indirectly owned SolarCity stock, according to court records.

Board members settled allegations against them last year for $60 million and did not admit to any fault.

Plaintiffs also allege the deal benefited two of Musk’s cousins who founded SolarCity, saving a company that was rapidly running low on cash.

Musk has said he was “fully recused” from board negotiations and that shareholders voted to approve the deal because it was central to his “Master Plan, Part Deux” that aims to integrate sustainable solar energy with electric self-driving cars.

He has said that what plaintiffs see as evidence of control is little more than strong management.

“Taken to its natural conclusion, virtually all ‘hands-on’ and ‘inspirational’ CEOs with minority stock ownership would be deemed controllers,” Musk’s lawyers wrote in a court filing.

If Vice Chancellor Joseph Slights determines Musk was a controlling shareholder, it will fall to Musk to prove the SolarCity deal met the high bar of the “entire fairness” standard, which examines process and price, said legal experts.

Musk has noted in court papers that the SolarCity deal has been a huge success for Tesla shareholders, demonstrating the deal was not only fair, but a boon. After Tesla split its stock 5-1 in 2020, it has risen to $652 on Thursday from near $37 a share when the deal closed in November 2016.

“If the vice chancellor thinks this deal was awful and was not effectively negotiated on behalf of the company, he’ll strike it down,” said Larry Hamermesh, a professor at Delaware Law School.

Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware, and Sierra Jackson in New York;
Editing by Noeleen Walder and Dan Grebler

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Health

EXCLUSIVE S.Korea in talks with mRNA vaccine makers to make up to 1 bln doses -govt official

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South Korean senior citizens receive their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at a vaccination centre in Seoul, South Korea April 1, 2021. Chung Sung-Jun/Pool via REUTERS

SEOUL, July 5 (Reuters) – South Korea is in talks with mRNA vaccine makers including Pfizer (PFE.N) and Moderna (MRNA.O) to produce COVID-19 shots in the country and is ready to offer the capacity to make up to 1 billion doses immediately, a senior government official said.

The plan, if agreed, would help ease tight global supply of COVID-19 vaccines, particularly in Asia which lags North America and Europe in vaccine rollouts, and put South Korea a step closer to its ambition to become a major vaccine manufacturing centre.

South Korea already has deals to locally produce three coronavirus vaccines developed by AstraZeneca (AZN.L)/Oxford University, Novavax (NVAX.O), and Russia. It also has a vaccine bottling and packaging deal with Moderna.

“We’ve been holding frequent talks with big pharmaceutical companies to produce mRNA vaccines,” Lee Kang-ho, director general for the global vaccine hub committee under South Korea’s health ministry, told Reuters in an interview.

“There are only a few mRNA vaccine developers – Pfizer, Moderna, CureVac and BioNTech. Thus there’s a limit to how much they can produce to meet global demand… South Korea is keen to help by offering its facilities and skilled human resources,” Lee said.

It’s not immediately clear how advanced these talks are and whether and when a deal will be agreed.

BioNTech (22UAy.DE) declined to comment, Moderna and CureVac (5CV.DE) did not reply to Reuters’ requests for comments.

A Pfizer spokesperson said the company is making efforts to enhance its COVID-19 vaccine supply chain but added “we do not have anything specific to announce at this time.”

Lee declined to name local vaccine makers which have the capacity to produce mRNA vaccines immediately, but a government source said they include Hanmi Pharmaceuticals Co Ltd (128940.KS) and Quratis Co Ltd.

Hanmi confirmed that it has a big capacity reserved for Sanofi’s (SASY.PA) diabetes drug and it can be used for COVID-19 vaccine production as the Sanofi project has stalled.

“We happen to have this facility available right now because our clinical trial (with Sanofi) was discontinued in the middle of last year,” Kim Soo-jin, senior vice president of Hanmi, told Reuters.

“It’s very timely that we have a fully ready, GMP, state-of-the-art facility available,” she said, referring to good manufacturing practice.

Quratis, which makes a tuberculosis vaccine, said its new factory built last year can now be used for mRNA vaccine production.

Shares in Hanmi erased early losses and rose nearly 4% on Monday after the Reuters report.

COLLABORATION WITH WHO

South Korea has stepped up its effort to produce more vaccines since U.S. President Joe Biden in May agreed with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on a comprehensive partnership on COVID-19 vaccines. read more

Lee said his team is having frequent video conference calls with the vaccine makers and the World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told Reuters the organisation is “talking with South Korea and other countries,” but did not elaborate.

The WHO said last month it will set up a hub in South Africa to manufacture mRNA vaccines within 9-12 months that will give companies from poor and middle-income countries the know-how and licenses to produce COVID-19 vaccines. read more

Lee said mRNA vaccine makers may be reluctant to share their technology, but they can take advantage of South Korea’s raw material suppliers to address a global shortage of such ingredients as lipids, nucleotides and capping reagents.

“They’re capable of manufacturing and developing such raw materials to help vaccine makers… and the South Korean government is committed to provide all necessary support including financial and administrative aid.”

Lee said the country also has a capacity for at least another 500 million doses of fill-and-finish vaccines apart from the deal Moderna announced with Samsung BioLogics (207940.KS) in May.

Reporting by Sangmi Cha in Seoul; Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Michael Erman in New York and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Raju Gopalakrishnan

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Business

Sydney Airport gets $16.7 bln buyout bid as investors take longer-term view on travel

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  • IFM, QSuper, Global Infrastructure Partners behind offer
  • Cash offer at 42% premium to last closing price on Friday
  • Offer contingent on UniSuper reinvesting 15% equity stake

SYDNEY, July 5 (Reuters) – A group of infrastructure investors has proposed a $22.26 billion ($16.7 billion) buyout of Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (SYD.AX), the operator of Australia’s biggest airport, taking a longer-term view on the pandemic-battered travel sector.

Record-low interest rates have led pension funds and their investment managers to chase higher yields. The purchase, with an enterprise value of A$30 billion including debt, would allow them to reap financial benefits when borders reopen and travel demand rebounds.

If successful, the deal would be Australia’s biggest this year, eclipsing the $8.1 billion spin-off of Endeavour Group Ltd (EDV.AX) and Star Entertainment Group Ltd’s (SGR.AX) $7.3 billion bid for Crown Resorts Ltd (CWN.AX).

The Sydney Aviation Alliance – a consortium comprising IFM Investors, QSuper and Global Infrastructure Partners – has offered A$8.25 per Sydney Airport share, a 42% premium to the stock’s Friday close.

The news sent the stock up as much as 38% to A$8.04 in early Monday trade, though it later retreated to around A$7.55, indicating market uncertainty as to whether the deal will succeed.

Sydney Airport noted the offer was below its pre-pandemic share price and said it would review the proposal, which is contingent on granting due diligence and recommending it to shareholders in the absence of a superior offer.

The airport operator’s share price hit a record A$8.86 in January last year, before the novel coronavirus pandemic led to a collapse in travel demand.

The company is Australia’s only listed airport operator. A successful deal would bring its ownership in line with the country’s other major airports which are owned by consortia of infrastructure investors, primarily pension funds.

Australia’s mandatory retirement savings system, known as superannuation, has assets of A$3.1 trillion, according to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia.

With record-low interest rates, funds are looking at infrastructure investments for higher yields.

“It’s the right timing to be looking at these assets which have got a 75-year life when conditions are arguably at the bottom,” said a Sydney Airport investor who declined to be named because the person’s firm was still assessing the proposal. “It’s opportunistic in that regard, but understandable.”

Australia’s international borders are widely expected to remain closed until at least the end of the year due partly to a slower vaccination programme than in most developed countries. read more

Domestic travel has also been disrupted by a two-week lockdown in Sydney during the normally busy school holiday period, after an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19. Other states have closed borders to Sydney residents.

In May, Sydney Airport’s international traffic was down more than 93% versus the same month of 2019, while domestic traffic was down 39.2%. read more

The airport has long held a monopoly on traffic to and from Australia’s most populous city, but that is due to end in 2026 with the opening of Western Sydney Airport.

Sydney Aviation Alliance said it did not anticipate making substantive changes to the airport’s management, services, operations or target credit ratings.

The consortium said its members invest directly or indirectly on behalf of more than 6 million Australians and collectively have more than A$177 billion of infrastructure funds under management globally, including stakes in 20 airports.

IFM holds stakes in major airports in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. QSuper owns a stake in Britain’s Heathrow Airport whereas Global Infrastructure is invested in that country’s Gatwick and London City airports.

Their offer is contingent on UniSuper, Sydney Airport’s largest shareholder with a 15% stake, agreeing to reinvest its equity interest for an equivalent equity holding in the consortium’s vehicle.

UniSuper, which also holds stakes in Adelaide and Brisbane airports, said it was not a consortium partner nor privy to any details outside information disclosed publicly.

“UniSuper does however, in-principle, see merit in Sydney Airport being converted from a publicly listed company to an unlisted company. UniSuper also has a favourable view of the consortium partners,” the fund said.

($1 = 1.3294 Australian dollars)

Reporting by Jamie Freed in Sydney and Scott Murdoch in Hong Kong; Additional reporting by Byron Kaye in Sydney and Nikhil Kurian Nainan and Soumyajit Saha in Bengaluru; Editing Stephen Coates and Christopher Cushing

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Business

Britain’s Morrisons agrees $8.7 bln offer from Fortress-led group

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A Morrisons store is pictured in St Albans, Britain, September 10, 2020. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra//File Photo

  • Fortress-led group offers 254 pence a share
  • Tops CD&R’s proposal of 230 pence
  • Some investors want 270 pence
  • Morrisons says Fortress would be suitable owner
  • Fortress says it will be ‘good steward’

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) – Morrisons has agreed to a takeover led by SoftBank (9984.T) owned Fortress Investment Group, valuing Britain’s fourth largest supermarket chain at 6.3 billion pounds ($8.7 billion) and topping a rival proposal from a U.S. private equity firm.

The offer from Fortress, along with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Koch Real Estate Investments, exceeds a 5.52 billion pound unsolicited proposal from Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), which Morrisons (MRW.L) rejected on June 19. read more

Including Morrisons’ net debt of 3.2 billion pounds, Fortress’ offer gives the group an enterprise value of 9.5 billion pounds.

“We have looked very carefully at Fortress’ approach, their plans for the business and their overall suitability as an owner of a unique British food-maker and shopkeeper with over 110,000 colleagues and an important role in British food production and farming,” said Morrisons Chairman Andrew Higginson.

“It’s clear to us that Fortress has a full understanding and appreciation of the fundamental character of Morrisons.”

The Fortress deal underlines the growing appetite from private funds for British supermarket groups, seen as attractive because of their cash generation and freehold assets.

Fortress, an independently-operated subsidiary of Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp, is a global investment manager with about $53 billion in assets under management as of March. It purchased British wine seller Majestic Wine in 2019.

“We are committed to being good stewards of Morrisons to best serve its stakeholder groups, and the wider British public, for the long term,” said managing partner, Joshua A. Pack.

Fortress intends to retain Morrisons’ existing management team led by CEO David Potts and execute its existing strategy. It said it was not planning any material store sale and leaseback transactions.

RECOMMENDATION

Under the terms of the deal, which Morrisons’ board is recommending to shareholders, investors would receive 254 pence a share, comprising 252 pence in cash and a 2 pence special cash dividend. CD&R’s proposal was 230 pence a share, worth 5.52 billion pounds.

Last week JO Hambro, a top ten shareholder in Morrisons, said any suitor for the group should offer about 270 pence a share or 6.5 billion pounds. read more

Morrisons, based in Bradford, northern England, started out as an egg and butter merchant in 1899. It now only trails market leader Tesco (TSCO.L), Sainsbury’s (SBRY.L) and Asda in annual sales.

Morrisons owns 85% of its nearly 500 stores and has 19 mostly freehold manufacturing sites. It is unique among British supermarkets in making over half of the fresh food it sells.

It said the Fortress offer represented a premium of 42% to its closing share price of 178 pence on June 18 – the day before CD&R’s proposal. The stock closed at 243 pence on Friday.

Morrisons’ directors, who own 0.23% of the group’s equity, would make 14.3 million pounds from selling their shares to Fortress.

CD&R, which under British takeover rules has until July 17 to come back with a firm offer, had no immediate comment.

Morrisons has a partnership agreement with Amazon (AMZN.O) and there has been speculation it too could emerge as a possible bidder.

FIVE PROPOSALS

Morrisons said an initial unsolicited proposal was received from Fortress on May 4 at 220 pence a share. This offer was not made public. Fortress then made four subsequent proposals before it offered a total value of 254 a share on June 5.

The bids for Morrisons follow February’s purchase by Zuber and Mohsin Issa and private equity firm TDR Capital of a majority stake in Asda from Walmart (WMT.N). The deal valued Asda at 6.8 billion pounds. read more

That transaction followed Sainsbury’s failure to take over Asda after an agreed deal was blocked by Britain’s competition regulator in 2019.

In April, Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky raised his stake in Sainsbury’s to almost 10%, igniting bid speculation.

read more

($1 = 0.7235 pounds)

Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Jane Merriman

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Business

China’s Didi raises $4.4 bln in upsized U.S. IPO -sources

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  • Didi sold 317 mln ADS, more than planned 288 mln -sources
  • Sells ADS at $14 a piece – sources
  • Would give Didi $73 bln valuation on fully diluted basis

June 29 (Reuters) – Chinese ride hailing company Didi Global Inc (DIDI.N) raised $4.4 billion in its U.S IPO on Tuesday, pricing it at the top of its indicated range and increasing the number of shares sold, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Didi sold 317 million American Depository Shares (ADS), versus the planned 288 million, at $14 apiece, the people said on condition of anonymity ahead of an official announcement.

This would give Didi a valuation of about $73 billion on a fully diluted basis. On a non-diluted basis, it will be worth $67.5 billion. The company is expected to debut on the New York Stock Exchange on June 30.

The increase in deal size came after the Didi investor order book was oversubscribed multiple times, one of the sources said.

Investors have been told to expect their orders to be scaled back once allocations are completed on Wednesday, according to a separate source with direct knowledge of the matter.

Didi did not respond to a request for comment.

The listing, which will be the biggest U.S. share sale by a Chinese company since Alibaba raised $25 billion in 2014, comes amid record IPO activity this year as companies rush to capture the lucrative valuations seen in the U.S. stock market.

Didi’s IPO is more conservative than its initial aim for a valuation of up to $100 billion, Reuters has previously reported. The size of the deal was cut during briefings with investors ahead of the IPO’s launch. read more

This suggests increasing investor worries about China’s potential anti-trust related crackdown and a more volatile IPO environment globally in 2021, said Douglas Kim, a London-based independent analyst, who writes on Smartkarma.

A Didi logo is seen at the headquarters of Didi Chuxing in Beijing, China November 20, 2020. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo

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“But it seems like many investors like this deal, the volatile IPO environment helped to lower IPO price and valuation looks attractive,” Kim told Reuters.

Didi’s IPO was covered early on the first day of the book-build last week and the investor books were closed on Monday, a day ahead of schedule. read more .

An over-allotment option, or greenshoe, exists where another 43.2 million shares can be sold to increase the deal size.

DIDI HISTORY

Didi was co-founded in 2012 by former Alibaba employee Will Wei Cheng, who currently serves as the chief executive officer. Cheng was joined by Jean Qing Liu, a former Goldman Sachs banker and the current president of the ride-sharing company.

The company counts SoftBank (9984.T), Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) and Tencent (0700.HK) as its main backers.

Didi is also known for successfully pushing Uber out of the Chinese market after the U.S. company lost a price war and ended up selling its China operations to Didi for a stake. Liu Zhen, the head of Uber China at the time, is Didi’s Liu’s cousin.

Like most ride-hailing companies, Didi had historically been unprofitable, until it reported a profit of $30 million in the first quarter of this year.

The company reported a loss of $1.6 billion last year and an 8% drop in revenue to $21.63 billion, according to a regulatory filing, as business slid during the pandemic.

Its shares are due to start trading under the “DIDI” symbol.

Reporting by Echo Wang in New York and Anirban Sen in Bengaluru and Scott Murdoch in Hong Kong; Editing by Greg Roumeliotis, Bill Berkrot and Himani Sarkar

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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