China’s leading real estate broker Lianjia may be preparing an overseas IPO for subsidiary Beike Zhaofang, some recent moves suggest.
All of Lianjia’s 15 shareholders, including chairman Zuo Hui, have pledged their shares to Beike (Tianjin) Investment Holdings Ltd., an affiliate of Beike Zhaofang that just secured $800 million in Series D funding led by Tencent earlier this week, according to a company data site.
The move comes not long after the company’s March 20 reshuffling, when 22 shareholders exited including property giant China Vanke, Sunac China Holdings, Tencent, Baidu and agricultural conglomerate New Hope Group.
The former investors’ stakes have been transferred to Beike, sources at the company have told Caixin.
Beike (Tianjin) Investment is also the wholly owned subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based real estate services company ― which leads analysts to believe that Lianjia’s recent moves are paving the way toward a long-rumored overseas IPO. The Hong Kong-based company will allow Zuo Hui and his leadership team to remain in control of Beike with a variable-interest entity structure-backed overseas listing.
