Xunlei Network plans IPO
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Shenzhen Xunlei Network Technology Ltd, the Chinese video and music file-sharing company partly owned by Google Inc, is planning to raise about $200 million in an initial public offering in the United States this year, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.
The company has hired underwriters including JPMorgan Chase & Co and Deutsche Bank AG for its IPO, said the people, who declined to be identified because the plans aren't public.
Xunlei may follow Chinese Internet companies including Youku.com Inc and E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc in raising capital from initial share sales in the US. Xunlei had about 190 million online video users at the end of last year, and it also offers other Web services including games, according to Tang Yizhi, an analyst at Analysys International in Beijing.
"The company's strength is in its technology - it's able to serve up high-definition videos to users," Tang said by telephone. "It has more diversified services than a site like Youku, which is focused on online videos."
Youku, China's biggest online video site, surged 161 percent of its first day of trading in New York on Dec 8, the largest gain for a US IPO since the 2005 debut of Baidu Inc, China's most popular search-engine.
LinkedIn Corp, the largest networking website for professionals, and Oakland, California-based Pandora Media Inc, the biggest online-radio company, have both filed to go public since the beginning of the year.
Yin Tihua, a manager at Xunlei, didn't immediately return calls to his office. Tasha Pelio, a spokeswoman for JPMorgan, and Scott Helfman, a spokesman for Deutsche Bank, declined to comment.
Technology companies worldwide are turning to IPOs to raise funds. Yandex, a Moscow-based Internet search provider, and Renren.com, the largest social-networking site in China, are planning IPOs this year, people briefed on the proposals said in the past two weeks.
Along with Austin, Texas-based HomeAway.com Inc and Salt Lake City-based Fusion-io Inc, the offerings may raise about $2 billion.
Google, based in Mountain View, California, announced its investment in Xunlei in 2007, in partnership with Fidelity Asia Ventures and Ceyuan Ventures as part of its efforts to win share in China, the world's second-largest Internet market.
The Motion Picture Association of America, a Washington-based trade group, said in 2008 that its six member studios filed a civil complaint against Xunlei in Shanghai Pudong District Court for enabling piracy of movies including Spider Man 3.
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