Sea Ltd, Southeast Asia’s most valuable start-up, has filed confidentially for a potential US initial public offering (IPO) that could raise about US$1 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The Singapore-based company, formerly known as Garena, filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in the past few weeks, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.
Sea is considering listing early next year, although no final decisions have been made, one of the people said.
Sea is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley on the share sale, the people said.
Under the Jumpstart Our Business Start-ups Act, companies with less than US$1 billion in annual revenue can file for an IPO with the SEC privately and work out the details outside the public eye.
The company, founded in 2009 by entrepreneur Forrest Li (李小冬), began as an online gaming portal and has since branched out to add mobile shopping and payment services.
A US$1 billion deal would be the largest technology IPO out of Southeast Asia, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, and be a boon for backers such as Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊).
Representatives for Sea, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.
The start-up earlier this month said it raised another US$550 million in funding as it steps up a battle in Indonesia with rivals, including Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴).
The latest funding round brought in some of the region’s wealthiest families as new investors, including GDP Venture, backed by the son of Indonesian clove-cigarette tycoon Budi Hartono, and JG Summit Holdings Inc, founded by Filipino billionaire John Gokongwei.
Any overseas listing of Sea would be a blow for Singapore, which has been trying to woo local start-ups to sell shares at home as it seeks to build a regional hub for fast-growing, innovative companies.
Singapore Exchange Ltd is nearing a deal with the nation’s technology regulator to develop a system for pairing start-ups with investors, in a move to encourage such listings, people with knowledge of the matter said this week.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last