Huya, a leading player in the business of live-streaming online games play, is to raise $343 million from a secondary offering of its shares on the New York Stock Exchange. The Chinese firm listed its shares in ADR form in May last year.
The company says that the latest share offering — which could expand to $464 million according to demand — will be used to strengthen its content ecosystem and content. Overseas expansion is also a possibility.
Huya joins a growing list of Chinese firms with listings in the U.S. or Hong Kong which are quickly returning to the investment markets for top-up capital. In the past two weeks, Chinese streaming firms including Bilibili and iQIYI have taken advantage of rising stock markets, and improving investor sentiment towards Chinese equities to raise cash through convertible bond issues. Last week Tencent, which owns market leader Tencent Video as well as a substantial minority position in Huya — raised $6 billion from a straight bond issue in Hong Kong.
Huya may additional have calculated that the recent demise of rival Panda TV strengthened its position in the Chinese streaming and esports sectors. It raised $462 million from Tencent in March 2018, but only managed $180 million from its IPO two months later.
The Chinese live streaming market is growing fast. Industry revenue is expected to grow to $16.5 billion by 2022, from 2017’s $5.5 billion, according to figures included in Huya’s filing to the New York Stock Exchange. The company recently delivered its The company recently posted its 2018 results, showing revenue doubled to $219 million and a nearly five-fold increase in adjusted net income to $24 million.