Chinese Pet Clinic Picks Banks for $500 Million IPO, Sources Say

(Bloomberg) -- New Ruipeng Pet Healthcare Group Co. has chosen banks to lead an initial public offering that could raise more than $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Chinese pet clinic operator picked China International Capital Corp., Credit Suisse Group AG and Morgan Stanley for the planned listing, which could take place as soon as early next year, the people said. The company is considering Hong Kong or the U.S. as a potential listing venue but hasn't made a final decision, said the people, asking not to be identified as the information is private.

The Hillhouse Capital-backed firm completed a fundraising of “hundreds of millions of dollars” that values the clinic chain at about 30 billion yuan ($4.4 billion), according to a Sept. 29 statement on its website. The round drew German pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim and Chinese technology giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. as investors. New Ruipeng didn't provide any other financial details in the statement.

New Ruipeng raised $500 million in the latest funding round, the people said. Boehringer Ingelheim, whose businesses cover both human and animal health, led the investment with $200 million while Tencent invested $100 million, the people said.

Deliberations for the IPO are ongoing and New Ruipeng could decide not to proceed with an offering, the people said. Representatives for Boehringer Ingelheim, Credit Suisse, Hillhouse, Morgan Stanley and Tencent declined to comment. A representative for CICC had no immediate comment.

New Ruipeng, based in Shenzhen, was seeking to raise about $300 million in the pre-IPO round, people familiar with the matter had told Bloomberg News in May.

New Ruipeng was created in 2019 after Hillhouse consolidated its animal health care assets in China. The original Ruipeng was founded in 1998.

The company operates more than 1,400 pet clinics across 80 Chinese cities including Beijing and Hong Kong, according to its website. Its other services for pets include beauty salons and online diagnosis assessment platforms. New Ruipeng aims to grow its number of clinics to about 5,000 in three years, the company said in a press release in April.

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