Web Retailer E-Commerce China Dangdang Files For $200M IPO

Chinese online retailer E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. registered to hold an initial public offering of American depositary shares worth up to $200 million to expand and enhance its operations.

The U.S. IPO market has been more active in recent weeks than it has been in many months, stretching back to before the financial crisis, with investors particularly friendly to Chinese debuts.

The company operates a leading Chinese e-commerce store, dangdang.com. Like Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) in the U.S., it originally focused on online book sales but now offers a range of product categories, like other media, apparel, electronics and beauty and home products. It also set up a marketplace program last year that allows third-party merchants to sell their general merchandise alongside the E-Commerce products.

With proceeds, the company plans to broaden product categories, expand shipping capabilities and improve its underlying technology.

It proposed listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DADA.

In the first nine months of this year, E-Commerce China Dangdang reported its swung to a profit as sales jumped 44%, reaching $197.6 million when translated to dollars.