The fintech subsidiary of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has withdrawn its plans for a listing on the Nasdaq-style tech board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE).
JD Technology announced on 2 April that it was “actively withdrawing” its application for an IPO on the Shanghai STAR Market Board.
The SSE commenced its review of JD Technology’s IPO application on 11 September 2020, yet the process has seen little progress in the near six months subsequently.
Reports first emerged in early March that JD Technology would withdraw its IPO plans due to concerns about pressure from Chinese regulators, particularly in the wake of the cancellation of Ant Group’s proposed listing on the Hong Kong and Shanghai bourses scheduled for November last year.
In January JD.com announced that it would merge fintech subsidiary JD Digits with its artificial intelligence and cloud computing units to form JD Technology (京东科技子集团). On 31 March JD.com announced that it had signed a final agreement to complete the transaction, bringing its stake in JD Technology to 42%.
JD Technology originally hoped to raise around 20 billion yuan (approx. USD$3 billion) via a listing on the Shanghai bourse, with the company itself valued at 200 billion yuan.
JD’s operating revenues in 2019 and the first half of 2020 were 18.203 billion yuan and 10.327 billion yuan respectively, while net profits were 790 million yuan and -670 million yuan.
Its JD Gold Stripe (京东金条) and JD White Strip (京东白条) products, which provide digital solution plans to financial institutions and corporations, accounted for a 42.9% share of operating revenues.
