VNET世纪互联 IPO at $15 13 M ADR shares on 20110420

世纪互联 21Vianet IPO raises $195 million, more than expected

世纪互联 VNET IPO at $15 for 13 M ADR shares

Wed Apr 20, 2011 9:02pm EDT

(Reuters) - 21Vianet Group Inc, a Chinese Internet data center services provider, raised more than expected in its U.S. IPO on Wednesday, selling more shares than planned for a price $2 above the proposed range, an underwriter said.

21Vianet sold 13 million American depositary shares for $15 each, raising $195 million, the underwriter said.

The company had planned to sell 12.5 million ADSs at $12 to $13 each -- already an increase from 11.5 million ADSs and the price range of $10 to $12 per ADS it had originally proposed.

The company, which says is the largest of its kind in China by revenue, has been operating at a loss for the past three years. It hosts servers and networking equipment, also tapping the hot cloud computing market.

Booming growth in consumption of Internet services in China has created a buzz around Chinese Internet and tech companies looking to list in the United States, often despite the lack of profitability.

21Vianet is the latest bid to take advantage of U.S. investors' appetite for Chinese tech stocks, with China's largest social network, Renren, likely to be up next after filing to list on the New York Stock Exchange last Friday.

21Vianet plans to use the proceeds from the IPO to expand its data center and network infrastructure, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Shares of 21Vianet are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday under the symbol "VNET." (VNET.O)