Beijing (AFP)
The action of Chinese internet giant Baidu struggled to take off (+ 0.8%) on Tuesday when it entered the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where the group raised $ 3.1 billion (2.6 billion euros).
Already listed on the Nasdaq, the "Chinese Google" has placed for its second listing on the Asian financial center 95 million shares at a unit price of 252 Hong Kong dollars (27.17 euros).
Apart from the internet and its ubiquitous search engine in China, Baidu is also active in technologies for autonomous vehicles.
The operation comes as Beijing encourages its national champions to list on national stock exchanges, such as Shanghai and Shenzhen, rather than in the United States in a context of economic and political rivalry between the two powers.
And many Chinese companies have taken the plunge in recent months.
In June 2020, the online sales group JD.com, another technology giant listed in the United States, had raised some 3.5 billion euros on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
And in December, its health subsidiary JD Health followed to collect 2.9 billion euros.
The Chinese video site Bilibili is also due to debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange soon, where it hopes to raise up to 2.6 billion euros.
Listed on the Nasdaq since 2018, Bilibili rallies fervent fans of cartoons, manga and video games, with an offer combining animated films, tutorials for online games, or even streaming videos of young Internet users dressed as heroes.
A loyal audience thanks to the interaction tools perfected by Bilibili, including the possibility of scrolling live audience reactions superimposed on the videos.
Bilibili claims nearly 200 million monthly users.
© 2021 AFP