China's Full Truck Alliance valued at over $24 billion in strong NYSE debut

(Reuters) – Full Truck Alliance Co Ltd (FTA) rose more than 18% in its debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, giving the startup a valuation of over $24 billion in the biggest U.S. stock market listing for a Chinese company this year.

Dubbing itself as “Uber for trucks”, the company joins a list of Chinese startups tapping into U.S. markets to access the world’s deepest capital pool and avoid tighter regulatory scrutiny in major Asian exchanges such as Hong Kong.

American Depositary Shares (ADS) of the company, each of which represent 20 Class A ordinary shares, opened at $22.50 apiece versus their offer price of $19.

Backed by high-profile investors including SoftBank’s Vision Fund and Tencent Holdings, the company runs a mobile app that connects truck drivers to people that need to ship items within China.

Popularly called Manbang in its home market, FTA earlier on Tuesday raised nearly $1.6 billion by offering 82.5 million ADSs in its IPO, which was priced at the upper end of a previously announced range.

That amount is expected to be dwarfed by China’s largest ride-hailing company, Didi Chuxing, which could raise up to $10 billion in its mammoth share sale planned later this year.

FTA will also raise a total of $200 million from Abu Dhabi state investor Mubadala and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board by selling Class A ordinary shares.

The company was formed in 2017 out of a merger between Chinese digital freight platforms Yunmanman and Huochebang. It is led by Peter Zhang, a former executive of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

Morgan Stanley, CICC and Goldman Sachs were the lead underwriters for FTA’s offering.

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