CaoCao raises $1.85b offering 44 million shares

Priced $41.94 each with slump in the first trading day.

CaoCao Inc., China's second largest online car-hailing platform, completed its global offering at Hong Kong Exchange (HKEX) on 25 June, and was expected to raise $1.85b, said its advisor Skadden.

Traded as CAOCAO INC, coded 02643, shares were priced at $41.94 each.

As of the close of the market on 25 June, share price dropped 14.16% to $36.

The offering included 44.178 million shares, about 4.4 million were under Hong Kong public offering and was oversubscribed by more than 20 times.

This triggered a claw-back mechanism, increasing the public share allocation to over 13 million shares, about 30% of the total offering.

The remaining 70% went to international investors, where the offering was nearly 3 times oversubscribed.

CaoCao was controlled by Ugo Investment Limited, which held 419 million shares-around 77% of the total shares. Ugo is wholly owned by Li Shufu, the founder and chairman of Chinese electric vehicle producer Geely.

Founded in 2015, Caocao operates in 136 cities, ranking second in China's online car-hailing market. After the IPO, it became the largest travel platform traded at HKEX.