Huobi Buys Controlling Shares of HKEX-Listed Firm, Opening Door to Public Listing
Huobi, the fifth largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world is reportedly looking to go public via what is called a “reverse IPO”, by acquiring 73.73% of the shares of Pantronics Holdings Ltd., an investment holding company that manufactures and distributes electronic components.
A reverse IPO, also known as a backdoor listing, could possibly allow Huobi to gain an automatic listing on the Hong Kong Exchange, by acquiring the publicly traded Pantronics Holdings Ltd., and bypassing the public offering phase and due regulatory hurdles.
Huobi’s CEO Li Lin has said that a reverse IPO would be “very difficult” to operate since his company is “not fully compliant on a global scale”, and that reports of a possible backdoor listing by Huobi were “just rumors”. Mr. Lin appears as the recipient via several subsidiaries on shareholding disclosure documents, of over 221 million shares, each valued at around 0.35$ for a total of almost $77million.
The market value of the Huobi Token, which apparently had been positively impacted by the announcement, is currently trading at $2.3 and is down 2.40% in the last 24h.
Huobi has been making aggressive moves in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space this year. This news comes as the Singapore-based exchange is currently developing its own blockchain ecosystem called Huobi Chain, and recently hired Randi Zuckerberg, the older sister of Facebook’s CEO, as a member of the Huobi Chain Expert Advisory Committee alongside seven other experts, including Bitmain’s CEO Jihan Wu.
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