Simpson Thacher recently represented Qutoutiao Inc. (“Qutoutiao”) (NASDAQ: QTT) in connection with its convertible loan agreement with Alibaba Investment Limited, an affiliate of Alibaba Group (“Alibaba”). Pursuant to the agreement, Alibaba advanced approximately US$171 million in aggregate principal amount of convertible loan to Qutoutiao. Upon full conversion, Qutoutiao will issue new shares to Alibaba, representing approximately 4% of Qutoutiao’s share capital.
The Firm also represented Qutoutiao in connection with a follow-on offering of 10,000,000 American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”), comprising 3,327,868 ADSs offered and sold by Qutoutiao and 6,672,132 ADSs offered and sold by the selling shareholders, representing an aggregate of 2,500,000 Class A ordinary shares. The total offering size was US$100 million before exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option. Citigroup, Deutsche Bank Securities, CLSA and Jefferies acted as the representatives of the underwriters.
Qutoutiao is an innovative and fast-growing mobile content platform company in China. Its flagship mobile application, Qutoutiao, aggregates articles and short videos from professional media and freelancers and presents customized feeds to users.
The Simpson Thacher team for the convertible loan transaction included Chris Lin and Howie Farn (Capital Markets).
The Simpson Thacher team for the follow-on offering included Chris Lin, Kai Fan and Chenjing Shen (Capital Markets); and Jonathan Cantor and Morgan Otway (Tax).