Tag: stocks

  • China-based Aspire Sets Terms for $120 Million U.S. IPO

    China-based Aspire Sets Terms for $120 Million U.S. IPO

    The Chinese vaping company Aspire Global announced terms for its U.S. IPO on Friday. The company plans to raise $120 million by offering 15 million shares at a price range of $7 to $9. At the midpoint of the proposed range, the Shenzhen company would command a market value of $1.3 billion.

    “Aspire is a vertically integrated provider of e-cigarette vaporizing technology. Its tobacco vaping products are sold through a distribution network of more than 150 distributors in 30 countries,” according to a release. “In December 2020, the company also commenced the marketing of cannabis vaping technology products in the US.”

    Aspire Global was founded in 2010 and earned $82 million in sales for the 12 months ended December 31, 2020, according to its prospectus. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol ASPG. Tiger Brokers, EF Hutton, TF International, and China Merchants Securities are the joint bookrunners on the deal.

    Aspire Global would be the second Chinese vaping company to list on the New York Stock Exchange. Unlike RLX Technology, that recently had a class action filed against for its stock tanking after China announc3ed it would regulate vaping products like traditional cigarettes, Aspire sells most of its products outside the Chinese market.

  • RELX More Than Doubles Value in Opening IPO

    RELX More Than Doubles Value in Opening IPO

    Chinese e-cigarette maker RLX Technology, parent to the RELX brand, jumped 146 percent in its trading debut after raising $1.4 billion in its U.S. initial public offering.

    relx vaping products
    Creit: RELX

    RLX Technology’s American depositary shares closed at $29.51 Friday, giving the company a market value of about $46 billion. Backed by Sequoia Capital China, the company sold 116.5 million shares for $12 a piece on Thursday after marketing them for $8 to $10.

    The IPO was led by Citigroup Inc. and China Renaissance Holdings Ltd. The company’s ADS, each representing one ordinary share, are trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RLX.

    The IPO, the first major U.S. listing this year by a China-based company, signals continuing investor demand, according to Bloomberg.

    RLX, founded in 2018, is China’s largest e-cigarette maker with 62.6 percent of the country’s market, according to a report by China Insights Consultancy cited in the company’s IPO prospectus.

    China is the world’s largest potential vaping market, with an estimated 286.7 million adult smokers in 2019, RLX said in its prospectus. But vaping products only have a 1.2 percent penetration rate, compared with 32.4 percent in the U.S.