Qudian, the Chinese fintech, saw its shares surged nearly 48 per cent in its first day of trading in New York on Wednesday, giving a much needed boost to a technology IPO market where sentiment’s been marred by the underwhelming performances of Snap and Blue Apron since their high-profile market debuts.
The online microlender, backed by Alibaba Group affiliate Ant Financial, priced its initial public offering at $24 per American depository share (ADS) on late Tuesday, above its expected range of $19-$22. The 37.5m share offering raised about $900m, making it the largest US-listing by a Chinese company this year.
The stock rose as high as $35.45 in early trading before trimming gains to trade up 24.4 per cent at $29.86.