osed initial public offering of American Depositary Shares, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday. Giant expects the offering to total 57.2 million ADS and price between US$12 and US$14 each. Each ADS represents 1 ordinary share.
The company is selling 52.5 million of the total ADS and a stockholder is offering the remaining 4.7 million ADS.
Giant Interactive focuses on massively multiplayer online, or MMO, games. The company's first internally developed game, "ZT Online," had 1.3 million quarterly active paying players in the three months ended Sept. 30.
In conjunction with the IPO, Standard Chartered Private Equity Ltd. has agreed to buy US$25 million of the company's ordinary shares at the IPO price. Assuming an offering price of US$13, Giant expects to receive net proceeds of about US$657 million from the IPO and the investment.
For the six months ended June 30, the company reported income of US$67.3 million on net revenue of US$90.3 million. Giant noted that its public accounting firm has identified several material weaknesses in its internal controls over financial reporting.
Giant Interactive expects to use proceeds to provide its employees with equity incentives and obtain additional capital. Proceeds will also be used for general corporate purposes, including capital expenditures and possible future acquisitions.
Merrill Lynch and UBS AG are serving as the IPO's lead underwriters. JP Morgan Securities, CIBC World Markets, Piper Jaffray and Susquehanna Financial Group LLLP are also underwriting the IPO.
The underwriters have been given an option to buy up to 8.6 million additional ADS from the selling stockholder to cover any overallotments.
Giant plans to list its ADS on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "GA."
