Tencent Music is expected to submit an IPO filing to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on September 7th and the final IPO date is slated for October 18th, one of the most cited WeChat accounts “IPO Zaozhidao” is reporting.
The listing is being underwritten by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. The IPO could value the company between $29 billion to $31 billion, on par with the Swedish online music juggernaut Spotify’s market value of $31 billion.
Tencent Music is the operator QQ Music, Kugou, and Kuwo. The three music streaming businesses claimed 254 million, 227 million and 111 million mobile users respectively in the first quarter of 2018, data from iResearch shows. Tencent Music controlled 78% of China’s music streaming market in 2017.
As of September 2017, the company inked a partnership with the world’s top record companies like Universal, Warner, Sony and YG Entertainment (South Korea) for streaming their catalogs. Together with NetEase Music and Ali Music Group, three of China’s top music streaming players entered cross-licensing agreements last year to end the years-long battle for copyrights.
Tencent Music IPO comes in wake of Tencent’s efforts to list its affiliates separately. Its online reading unit China Literature raised $1.1 billion after pricing its Hong Kong IPO at the top of its range early last November. China’s first online-only insurance company Zhong An, in which Tencent holds a stake, raised $1.5 billion in another Hong Kong IPO. In addition, the internet giant is also planning for an IPO of its online healthcare unit WeDoctor.