Chinese used-car trading platform Uxin debuts on Nasdaq

NEW YORK - Chinese used-car e-commerce platform Uxin Limited started trading on Nasdaq Stock Market on Wednesday.

The company, trading under the ticker symbol of "UXIN", announced its IPO of 25 million American depositary shares (ADSs) at a price to the public of $9.0 per ADS.

Concurrent with the private placement of $175 million of convertible bonds, Uxin planned to raise a total of approximately $400 million, assuming the underwriters do not exercise their option to purchase additional ADSs.

Each ADS represents three Class A Ordinary Shares of the company.

Uxin started trading at $10.40 per share on Wednesday, climbing 0.67 percent from its pricing, and was traded at $9.06 apiece around midday.

The fund raised will be used mainly to improve Uxin's transaction service capabilities, promote research and development, and fund potential strategic investments and acquisitions, said its prospectus.

The company consists of two major businesses, including 2C used car and 2B auction. They possessed market shares of 41 percent and 42 percent in terms of gross merchandise volume (GMV) in the online 2C and 2B used car markets in China in 2017, respectively, according to third-party research firm iResearch.

Uxin is the largest used car e-commerce platform in China in terms of both the number of transactions facilitated and total GMV in 2017, according to iResearch.

The company's total revenues grew to $298.6 million in 2017, representing an increase of 136.7 percent from 2016. Its net loss was $420.5 million in 2017, according to its prospectus.

Morgan Stanley & Co International plc, Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC, JP Morgan Securities LLC, China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities Limited, and China Renaissance Securities (Hong Kong) Limited are acting as joint bookrunners for the offering.