Beijing-based Youku.com Inc, the biggest online video company in China and considered a YouTube clone by many, has recently launched its US$203m IPO on Nasdaq.

China is the world’s second largest Internet arena, and the video industry here continues to be very active.
Tudou, Youku’s largest rival, has also filed for a US IPO, but no date for the offering has yet been set and Tudou, Youku also competes with Ku6 Media, which merged with Hurray! in December 2009, in a deal that was advised by Han Kun, DLA Piper, Davis Polk and Morrison & Foerster.

Chinese companies continue to look to the US stock exchanges despite what seems like a sluggish market. Last week, six Chinese stocks started trading on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, the most ever in a single week. According to Thomson Reuters, the 35 Chinese offerings so far this year have accounted for 23% IPOs in the US.

Scott Clemens, a Beijing-based partner with Baker & McKenzie and head of its Asia-Pacific US securities practice group, describes the Chinese interest in the US capital markets as strong at this time. “In the last eight or nine months, the US markets have recovered substantially and there has been a lot of PRC floats. These IPOs are smaller but they are all growth companies which are dealing predominantly in the education, entertainment ,media, biotech, energy and Internet sectors,” he said.

Haiwen, which advised the underwriters in Youku's launch, also notes a significant increase in the number of offshore listings as compared to the same period last year. ALB

Related stories:

• TMT: Weil Gotshal advises CMC on TV channel acquisition (13 August 2010)
• Han Kun boosts TMT practice with dual hire (5 August 2010)
• TMT: A Brave New World (2 December 2009)