GDS Holdings: Alibaba, Tencent cloud data centre host views Hong Kong as hub for Southeast Asia
- Shares of GDS Holdings, which raised US$1.6 billion from a secondary listing in Hong Kong, rose 2.6 per cent on its debut on Monday
- Secondary listing in Hong Kong ensures that ‘there will be a liquid market for our shares in the long term’, according to chief financial officer Daniel Newman
Shanghai-based data centre services provider GDS Holdings views Hong Kong as a hub for the Southeast Asia region, its chief financial officer said.
The company, which hosts some of the largest cloud services providers in mainland China, including AliCloud and Tencent Cloud, is listed on the Nasdaq. It has also raised HK$12.9 billion (US$1.6 billion) from a secondary listing in Hong Kong, where it sold 160 million shares at HK$80.88 each. Its stock debuted on Monday and rose 2.6 per cent to HK$83.
GDS, also known as Global Data Solutions, is the latest US-listed Chinese company to raise funds in Hong Kong amid rising threats by the United States to decouple its economy from China.
Given the political developments in the US, it’s important for all of our shareholders that we have a secondary listing in Hong Kong, which ensures that there will be a liquid market for our shares in the long term
The US-China situation was accelerating a digital transformation in China, Hong Kong and the Southeast Asian region, said Daniel Newman, GDS’s chief financial officer, said in an interview.
“Given the political developments in the US, it’s important for all of our shareholders that we have a secondary listing in Hong Kong, which ensures that there will be a liquid market for our shares in the long term,” said Newman.
