Has Meituan lured Tencent to its mega US$4b IPO?

The Chinese tech titan is said to be buying US$400m of stock.

Bloomberg reports that Chinese restaurant review and delivery giant Meituan Dianping is said to have lured tech titan Tencent as cornerstone investor to its blockbuster IPO that could raise more than US$4b.

Tencent will reportedly buy roughly US$400m of stock even as it already owns about a fifth of Meituan.

Meituan's is raising capital as it moves outside of restaurant and food reviews and into ride-hailing, finance and travel where it will muscle against established players like Didi Chuxing, Alibaba and Ofo. In fact, the firm booked a massive $22.79b loss (US$2.9b) in 2017 due to heightened market and research spending. 

The firm's planned IPO would be the second weighted voting rights float in Hong Kong after the bourse operator introduced sweeping reforms to its listing regime in an effort to lure more new economy and biotech firms.

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