China's 360 Finance makes Nasdaq debut

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360 Finance, a Chinese fintech company, rang the Nasdaq MarketSite opening bell on Friday in celebration of its initial public offering (IPO).

The company, trading under the ticker symbol of "QFIN," announced its IPO of 3,100,000 American Depositary Shares (ADSs), at a price to the public of 16.5 U.S. dollars per ADS for a total offering of approximately 51.2 million U.S. dollars.

The underwriters have been granted an option, exercisable within 30 days from the date of the final prospectus, to purchase up to 465,000 additional ADSs at the initial public offering price less the underwriting discount.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Haitong International Securities Company Limited, AMTD Global Markets Limited, and Lighthouse Capital International Inc. are acting as joint book runners for the offering.

360 Finance started trading at 16.81 U.S. dollars per share on Friday, declining by 1.84 percent to close at 16.5 U.S. dollars apiece.

"Given [that] the private consumption in China is growing rapidly and consumer finance market in China is highly underdeveloped and under penetrated, we can certainly see great opportunity and potential for this company today and for many years to come," said Bob McCooey, Senior Vice President of Nasdaq's Listing Services unit.

Xu Jun, chief executive officer of 360 Finance, said listing on Nasdaq is only one milestone which gives the company access to capital in order to support the company's growth. Xu noted that everything else will stay the same.

"Our mission is not changing: We want to bring safe, convenient and affordable financial services to all Chinese people," said Xu.

360 Finance, Inc. is a leading digital consumer finance platform and the financial partner of the 360 Group.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency