JD files new prospectus, launches online fund product

JD, which operates China's second-largest online marketplace jd.com, named Tencent Holdings as its third-biggest shareholder in a renewed prospectus filed to the US securities regulator Tuesday Beijing time.

The company on Tuesday also launched an online fund product, which boasts a 8.8 annualized return, to compete with local Internet rivals, including Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings.

JD, which claims to own 46.5 percent of China's online -direct sales market, confirmed that it will be listed on NASDAQ using the ticker "JD" in an updated prospectus sent to the US Securities Regulatory Commission Monday US time.

JD is among a slew of Chinese technology companies, including Alibaba and Sina Corp's weibo.com, which plan to get listed in the US.

The company filed its first prospectus on January 30, saying it planned to seek up to $1.5 billion in its US listing.

On March 10, Tencent announced that it would pay $214.7 million to acquire a 15 percent stake in JD. That made JD to renew its older prospectus.

According to the updated prospectus, Tencent owns 14.3 percent, or 352 million shares, of JD. The largest shareholder is Liu Qiangdong, JD's founder, who owns 18.8 percent of shares in the company, and the second biggest one is Tiger Fund, which owns 18.1 percent.

The company made a net loss of 50 million yuan ($8.04 million) in 2013, down from 1.7 billion yuan in 2012, the prospectus showed. It earned net revenue of 69.3 billion yuan in 2013, tripling its net revenues of 21.1 billion yuan in 2011.

Other than getting listed on NASDAQ, Jd.com is busy venturing into China's burgeoning online financial product market. It started selling its online fund which promises a 8.8 percent annualized return on Tuesday.

The fund product, dubbed "Jingdong 8.8," was co-launched by jd.com and Guotai Asset Management.

The smallest amount required to invest in Jingdong 8.8 is 100 yuan, and there is no upper limit. The money will be invested in one of Guotai's pension funds.

Jd.com's fund comes at a time when China's -Internet financial market has been through explosive growth since mid-2013, when Alibaba launched its ultra-popular Yu'ebao with Tianhong Asset Management.

Investors can buy jd.com's fund on the company's wealth management website, which was launched on March 27.

Guotai said that Jingdong 8.8 pays investors their returns on the 20th of the last month of every quarter, which makes the fund China's first online fixed pay fund, financial news portal caixin.com reported on Tuesday.

The heavily touted 8.8 percent annualized return stirred some skepticism among investors and market watchers, who said that the return is unbelievably high. The seven-day annualized return of Yu'ebao stood at 5.3 percent on Tuesday, while Tencent's Licaitong stood at 5.42 percent.

Guotai argues that Jingdong 8.8 is different from other online funds, caixin.com reported. When the product makes a profit that is higher than 8.8 percent, the fund pays investors its profit. And when it makes a profit that is less than 8.8 percent or a loss, the fund pays its profits plus principal to its investors as returns, the news portal said.

Unlike money market funds like Yu'ebao, which rarely makes losses, Jingdong 8.8 can make losses, Guotai said.