GDS Holdings Limited (“GDS” or the “Company”, GDS.US / 9698.HK) has successfully completed its dual listing on the main board of HKEx on November 2, 2020. The offering size is HK$14.88 billion (assuming full exercise of over-allotment option), which equals approximately US$1.92 billion. CICC acted as the Joint Sponsor, Joint Global Coordinator, Joint Bookrunner and Joint Lead Manager.

This offering is the largest IPO ever among carrier-neutral data center providers globally, and is also among the top 5 largest IPOs in Hong Kong market in 2020 YTD. GDS has become the first data center service provider to be listed both in Hong Kong and the United States.

About GDS

GDS is the largest carrier-neutral data center (IDC) infrastructure and service provider in China, with a 21.9% revenue market share of the carrier-neutral market in 2019. The Company focuses on the development and operation of high-performance data centers, covering the Tier 1 markets including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Chengdu and Chongqing, and the surrounding areas. As of June 30, 2020, the Company had an aggregate net floor area of 266,260 sqm in service and 133,208 sqm under construction, including 42 self-developed data centers in service, and 17 self-developed data centers under construction.

The data centers of GDS are designed and configured with large net floor area and power capacity, high power density and efficiency, through which GDS is able to provide stable and efficient services to customers such as hyperscale cloud service providers, large internet enterprises, financial institutions, and telecom operators. Since its listing on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in November 2016, GDS has performed marvelously in the secondary market, thanks to its outstanding operational capabilities and business performance.

Acting as the Joint Sponsor and Joint Global Coordinator of this offering, CICC fully mobilized its sales resources, assisted GDS to complete the issuance smoothly under the extremely tight issuance schedule and volatile market environment, contributed a significant number of orders from Chinese and APAC investors during the bookbuilding stage, and supported the Company in fulfilling its goal of further expanding and diversifying the shareholders base.

As a leading company in the IDC industry already listed in the U.S., GDS attracted enormous attentions from market and media. Since the kick-off, the deal team enforced strict confidentiality and successfully minimized the market exposure. CICC participated in the overall execution process throughout the project proactively and efficiently, delivering satisfactory results and ensuring the smooth progress.

In the process of deal execution, with the high-quality integrated investment banking services along with professionalism, diligence and determination, CICC has won extensive recognition from the client for its professional abilities, which constitutes another classic case of CICC in providing international professional services to large-scale and high-quality enterprises.

IDC is an important area of new infrastructure construction (the “New Infrastructure”) and a crucial project in supporting the high-quality development of the economy of our country. Considering the nature of GDS being the top one domestic and world-leading carrier-neutral data center service provider, its successful listing back in Hong Kong is of great strategic significance for both the Company itself and the development of the industry. CICC adheres to the core value of “For the Nation”, actively implements the national development strategy in the field of New Infrastructure, and assists the high-quality enterprises in this industry to achieve accelerated growth.

As a leading investment bank with “Chinese Roots, International Reach”, CICC will continue to utilize its capital market expertise as well as its seamless cooperation of onshore and offshore businesses to provide customized and top-notch capital market support to our customers, and assists in promoting long-term strategic development.