The online automotive retail platform is targeting $300m in an offering that will score exits for Tencent, Didi Chuxing and Taikang Life.
Cango, a China-based automotive e-commerce marketplace that counts internet group Tencent and ride hailing service Didi Chuxing as investors, has filed for a $300m initial public offering in the US.
Founded in 2010, Cango runs an online marketplace that links almost 38,000 car dealerships with buyers and 11 third-party financial service providers. It offers vehicle purchase options as well as financing and after-sale servicing.
The company more than doubled its revenue to almost $168m in 2017 while increasing net income by more than 160% to $55.6m. It plans to use the IPO proceeds for research and development, sales and marketing, and to strengthen its financial leasing unit, Shanghai Autohome.
The offering follows more than $1bn in funding over the past 13 months, according to the IPO filing. Private equity firm Warburg Pincus invested $72m in Cango in May 2017 before an unnamed backer added almost $30m two months later.
Life insurance firm Taikang provided a further $76m of funding in December, and Cango raised about $840m from five investors including Tencent in January this year.
Didi Chuxing owns a 14.8% stake in Cango while Tencent holds 10.7% and Taikang 5.4%. Its largest shareholder, Medway Brilliant, a holding company for CEO Jiayuan Lin, owns 20.8%.
The company’s other notable shareholders are Warburg Pincus (18.2%), Eagle Central, a vehicle owned by chairman Xiaojun Zhang (13.4%), and Huaiyuan an entity that counts Eagle Central and Medway Brilliant as its limited partners (4.4%).
Morgan Stanley International, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith and Goldman Sachs (Asia) have been appointed joint book-running managers for the IPO.