Wanda Sports Raises Only $190 Million in Downsized U.S. IPO

(Bloomberg) -- Wanda Sports Group Co. raised $190 million in its U.S. initial public offering, less than half of its earlier goal for the listing.

The owner of the Ironman triathlon brand sold 23.8 million American depository shares at $8 apiece, according to a filing confirming an earlier report by Bloomberg. The unit of Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin’s conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group Co. earlier slashed both the size of the offering as well as the marketed price range.

The IPO still priced below the reduced range of $9 to $11 a share, which had been lowered from $12 to $15 each. The Beijing-based company and its investors earlier planned to sell 33.33 million shares.

Existing shareholders of Wanda Sports agreed to not sell any shares, while they intended to sell 13.3 million shares in the original plan.

The company, which has had partnerships with FIFA and the Chinese Basketball Association, owns sports properties and generates revenue from events, sponsorship and media pacts.

The offering was led by Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank AG and Citigroup Inc. The shares are expected to begin trading Friday on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol WSG.

--With assistance from Yueqi Yang.

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

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fion Li at fli59@bloomberg.net, Michael Hytha, Matthew Monks

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