Alibaba-backed Chinese supply chain firm BEST debuts on NYSE

NEW YORK - Chinese supply chain firm BEST Inc, backed by e-commerce giant Alibaba, made its trading debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Wednesday.

BEST priced its IPO offering at $10 per American Depositary Receipt (ADR), the lower end of the pricing range of $10 to $11 given by the company, trading under the ticker symbol of BSTI.

BEST raised $450 million at 45 million ADRs, which is smaller than the $869.4 million expected a couple of days ago when BEST planned to price 62.1 million ADRs between $13 and $15 per ADR.

However, it is still the biggest Chinese IPO in New York so far this year.

The company started trading at $11.48 per share on Wednesday, jumping 14.8 percent from its pricing.

BEST is a leading and the fastest-growing logistics smart supply chain service provider in China. Its multi-sided platform combines technology, integrated logistics and supply chain services, last-mile services and value-added services.

The company has been focusing on scale and growth, through the expansion of network and service coverage, in line with its philosophy to build and invest for the long term.

BEST is backed by Alibaba and Cainiao Network. The company has a strategic relationship with its largest shareholder, making it a key logistics provider to the world's largest retailer, as Alibaba's platforms serve more than 10 million merchants and more than half a billion consumers.

For the six months ended on June 30, 2017, BEST's revenue was $1.2 billion, up 133.5 percent from the same six months a year ago, while its net losses for the six months ended on June 30 were $92.1 million, 1.06 percent narrower than the year-ago period, according to the company's filing.

The company was founded by Johnny Chou, former president of Google China, and is led by a team with technology and logistics expertise.

"New York is one of the world's most important financial centers. By choosing NYSE to go public, BEST will have a better international vision, which can better serve our customers in the future," Chou told Xinhua before the opening bell on Wednesday.

Investors kept a close eye on IPO this year, as public offerings have been slowing down these years.

Proceeds from the US IPO market were only $18.8 billion last year, down from $86.6 billion in 2014, according to investment banking firm Renaissance Capital.