Amid whispers that no one in China’s group buy scene is making money and sites are running out of cash, reports have surfaced that Lashou, one of China’s largest group buy sites by market share, is planning a US IPO.
Inside sources tell Sina Tech that the company is currently searching for new underwriters to back the IPO, as their current underwriters — Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs — are also backing Groupon, one of Laoshou’s competitors (though not a particularly competitive one in China). Reportedly, the company has already found at least one underwriter but is still looking for others. Sources also said that the specific timing of an IPO would be chosen based in part on the fluctuations of the market.
Interestingly, if Lashou were to IPO soon, they would beat not only all of China’s other group buy sites but also Groupon itself to the stock market. Groupon, the American company that first popularized the group buy concept abroad, has delayed its own IPO amid questions about its businesses practices at home as well as in China.
Lashou’s CEO, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley, all have refused to comment on this story, so for right now you can file it squarely into the “rumors” folder. But to me, this one’s got the ring of truth to it, and assuming the market doesn’t collapse and Lashou can find some underwriters, I expect we’ll be hearing more about this soon enough.
[Via Sina Tech]
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