Other BriefingsQIA Secures 4.26% Share in Kingdee, Injecting $200M Investment
On December 10, Kingdee International Software Group Co., Ltd, (0268.HK) announced that Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) will make a strategic investment of around US$200 million in consideration for approximately 4.26 percent of Kingdee’s total issued ordinary shares, subject to a lock-up period of 180 days.
Author: Qian Zhou
This strategic investment not only demonstrates Kingdee’s long-term investment value, but also aligns with QIA’s strategy of focusing on investing in companies and technologies that lead the world in digitization and shape the ecosystem of the future.
“We are pleased to partner with QIA,” said Shaochun Xu, Chairman and CEO of Kingdee. “This strategic investment from QIA highlights Kingdee’s leading position in the enterprise digital management industry and will support Kingdee’s international growth strategy.”
Mohammed Al-Hardan, Head of Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Investment at QIA, echoed similar sentiments. He said, “QIA is dedicated to investing in innovative technology firms globally. We are optimistic about the long-term growth potential of the Asian software industry and recognize Kingdee’s pivotal role in driving the cloud transformation of Chinese businesses. We are delighted to add Kingdee to our expanding Asian TMT investment portfolio.”
Who is Kingdee?
Founded in 1993, Hong Kong-listed Kingdee is one of China’s leading enterprise management and cloud software companies.
Many of Kingdee’s cloud service products have been favored by millions of enterprises around the world, including Kingdee Cloud · Cangqiong (an enterprise-class PaaS platform), Kingdee Cloud · Xinghan (SaaS management cloud for large enterprises), Kingdee Cloud · Xingkong (SaaS management cloud for high-growth enterprises), and Kingdee Cloud · Xingchen (SaaS management cloud for small and micro enterprises).
According to the introduction posted on Kingdee’s official website, it has provided enterprise management software and cloud services for more than 7.4 million enterprises, governments and organizations across the world.
What is the significance of the investment?
This is the largest single investment by a Middle Eastearn sovereign fund in China’s software sector and in a Hong Kong-listed company since 2019, representing QIA’s recognition of China’s SaaS (Software as a service) development globally.
QIA, the ninth biggest sovereign fund in the world with nearly US$500 million of assets under management, has long tracked the development of China’s software industry and “is highly optimistic about the future development of Kingdee’s subscription business”.
With resources provided for Kingdee’s overseas expansion, Kingdee will be able to tap the burgeoning Middle Eastern market, which is one of the fastest growing digital economies in the world.
Following Kingdee’s announcement of the investment, the company’s share price surged as much as 10.5 percent in the same day.
Bigger picture
Against the backdrop of the digitalization trend around the world, Middle East countries have been betting big on relevant sectors. Investment in information technology by six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, namely the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar, is expected to reach US$70 billion next year.
Besides Kingdee, QIA has also invested in Celonis from Germany, a process mining and execution management software company, Builder.ai from Britain, a cloud-based platform that enables app development with simple and plain language, and San Francisco-headquartered Databricks, which offers artificial intelligence data and analysis services.
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