With 70 per cent of business from Alibaba, the Chinese delivery company Best Inc. is listing at an offering of US$750 million

Best Inc., which is 23 per cent owned by Alibaba, has filed for an IPO in the United States with the projected initial offering at US$750 million, according to SEC filings.

The offering is being underwritten by Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank.

Best will list on either the NASDAQ or New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) but has not chosen a bourse.

The company leveraged cloud computing in China to build the fastest growing supply-chain company in the country. Its key service is its express shipping and Best claims to cover 100 per cent of China’s cities and 98 per cent of its provincial areas.

It also offers freight shipping, B2B procurement, a cross-border supply-chain infrastructure and financial services.

The company says it wants to use the IPO to continue innovation, expand market share, grow its Best Store, expand global reach and grow through M&A.

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According to the South China Morning Post, who is owned by Alibaba, the e-commerce giant accounted for 70 per cent of Best’s express shipments since March.

The investment from, and heavy reliance on, Alibaba puts Best Inc. in direct competition with the currier services SF Express. In February, SF Express completed a reverse takeover in Shenzhen that launched Chairman Wang Wei into the spot of third-richest man in China (Alibaba’s Jack Ma is the country’s wealthiest individual).

A few weeks ago, SF Express and Alibaba’s logistics company Cainao were involved in a spat over data sharing.

In October, another Alibaba-client, ZTO Express (which gets 75 per cent of its business from Ma’s company) IPO’d at US$18.40 a share but during the day saw a 15 per cent dip to US$16.57. The current stock price is US$14.44.

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Alibaba is listed on the NYSE.

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