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Evergrande-Backed E-House Attracts Alibaba to $727 Million IPO

Evergrande-Backed E-House Attracts Alibaba to $727 Million IPO

(Bloomberg) -- E-House (China) Enterprise Holdings Ltd., a real estate services firm backed by the country’s biggest developers, is seeking as much as $727 million in a Hong Kong initial public offering.

The Shanghai-based company is offering 322.8 million shares at HK$14.38 to HK$17.68 apiece, according to terms for the deal obtained by Bloomberg. It will take investor orders from July 6 to July 13, with trading expected to start July 20, the terms show.

A unit of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. agreed to buy $50 million of shares as one of the four cornerstone investors, according to the terms. China Evergrande Group, China Vanke Co. and Country Garden Holdings Co. each own 15 percent of the company prior to the planned deal, a preliminary prospectus shows.

E-House, which was listed in New York until 2016, is preparing its Hong Kong debut amid a slump in the city’s equity market, with the Hang Seng Index down about 15 percent from its January all-time high. The deal would add to the $12.3 billion of Hong Kong first-time share sales this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Overseas Chinese Town Asia Holdings Ltd. agreed to buy about $150 million of the deal as a cornerstone investor, while a firm affiliated with Henderson Land Development Co. agreed to invest about $38 million, the terms show. A subsidiary of Singapore’s City Developments Ltd. aims to take up about $30 million of the deal, according to the terms.

China International Capital Corp. and Credit Suisse Group AG are joint sponsors for the IPO.

To contact the reporter on this story: Crystal Tse in Hong Kong at ctse44@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Scent at bscent@bloomberg.net, Timothy Sifert, Fion Li

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.