JD.com delights with revenues of 201b yuan

JD.com (9618) reported second-quarter revenue that exceeded estimates, alongside investment from Hillhouse Capital, after China's second-biggest online retailer benefited from a rise in its online marketplaces spending.

The company said yesterday its JD Health division would receive more than US$830 million (HK$6.47 billion) from Hillhouse, the investment firm founded by Zhang Lei, through the purchase of Series B preference shares.

JD reported revenue in the three months ended June rose 34 percent to 201.05 billion yuan (HK$201.05 billion), beating the 190.7 billion yuan average of analyst estimates.

Meanwhile, US electric automaker Tesla said it will provide legal assistance for group buyers who bought its Model 3 sedans in Pinduoduo's platform to sue the e-commerce company. Pinduoduo, which is reportedly considering a Hong Kong initial public offering, arranged a group purchase of Tesla's Model 3 sedans for 251,800 yuan, compared with 40,000 yuan cheaper than the original price. But Tesla said it is only operating with a direct sales business model and refused to deliver the locally-built vehicles.

In Hong Kong, Chinese bottled water manufacturer Nongfu Spring has passed listing hearing for its Hong Kong IPO that could raise around US$1 billion and it plans to kick off public shares on August 24.

Ant Group, the fintech arm of Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba (9988) has made a preparatory filing with China's securities regulator for its planned blockbuster IPO onshore, according to Reuters.