Citic Capital-Backed UCO Cosmetics Weighing Hong Kong IPO

(Bloomberg) -- Hangzhou UCO Cosmetics Co., a Chinese e-commerce servicing company for beauty brands, is considering a Hong Kong initial public offering that could raise at least $300 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Citic Capital Partners-backed company has held discussions with potential advisers on the share sale, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. The IPO could take place as soon as this year, they said.

Deliberations are at an early stage, and details of the offering including size and timeline could still change, the people said. Representatives for Citic Capital and UCO declined to comment.

UCO, or “You Ke” in Chinese, was founded in 2010 and has more than 1,300 employees, according to the company’s website. The Hangzhou-based company helps traditional beauty brands market and sell their products in China on e-commerce portals including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Tmall and JD.com Inc. UCO’s clients include international beauty brands Sisley, Decorte and Sekkisei.

Citic Capital acquired a controlling stake in UCO from Qingdao Kingking Applied Chemistry Co. in 2019 for 1.4 billion yuan ($216 million), according to an exchange filing. Minority shareholders in UCO include Tencent Holdings Ltd., Fubon Financial Holding Co. and Qatar Holding LLC.

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With assistance from Bloomberg