Chinese Vape Company Going For US IPO

China’s largest vaping firm is planning on going public with a brand new initial public offering (IPO) on stock markets in the United States.

According to a recent report by Bloomberg News, RLX Technology intends to sell 116.5 million American depositary shares of their company at $8 to $10 each.

RLX claims to be China’s largest producer of vapour products. The company promotes its popular RELX brand of vaporizers and liquids sold internationally.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US regulator of stock exchanges, took in a filing from RLX informing the federal government of the company’s intentions to join the markets in the country.

RLX intends to sell shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

$1.2 billion in an initial public offering is sought after by the company, making it the latest example of a Chinese firm going for a major listing on stock markets in the country.

“We are an “emerging growth company” under applicable US federal securities laws and are eligible for reduced public company reporting requirements,” notes the company in its SEC F-1/A filing.

In the context of what RLX claims, an emerging growth company with total annual gross revenues of less than $1.07 billion during its most recent fiscal year and has not yet sold equity securities and common stock under a registration agreement with the SEC.

Sequoia Capital China, a venture capital firm based in Beijing, is backing the company as it enters IPO.

According to the same report, nearly $15 billion was raised by Chinese companies who have entered IPO on US exchanges, which is the second-most on record.

China is the world’s largest vaping market, with an estimated 287 million adult smokers reported in 2019, notes data from RLX. Vaping products in China, though, only have a 1.2 percent penetration rate, compared to a 32.4 percent penetration in the United States.