BRIEF: CaoCao tumbles in Hong Kong trading debut

Ride-hailing platform  CaoCao Inc.  (2643.HK) slipped into reverse with its Hong Kong debut on Wednesday, as its shares opened down 20% at HK$33.80 on their first trading day. The stock traded in a narrow range after that, closing down 15% at HK$35.75 at the midday break.

The company said it sold 44.18 million shares for HK$41.94 apiece to raise net proceeds of about HK$ 1.72 billion ($219 million). The public offering for local Hong Kong investors was oversubscribed by 20 times, while the international placement was oversubscribed by nearly 1.8 times.

Six cornerstone investors collectively bought HK$950 million worth of shares, including investment affiliates of Mercedes-Benz, Mirae Asset Securities, Infini Global Master Fund, Guoxuan High-Tech (002074.SZ), Eve Energy (300014.SZ) and RoboSense (2498.HK).

Backed by leading private automaker Geely, CaoCao had a dedicated fleet of more than 34,000 vehicles serving 31 cities at the end of last year. The company reported 2024 revenue of 14.66 billion yuan, up 37.4% year-over-year. But it recorded an annual loss of 1.25 billion yuan for the year.

By Lau Chi Hang

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