DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Sunity Online Entertainment Ltd. plans to sell an unspecified
amount of stock in a U.S. initial public offering.
The Chinese online game developer and operator expects its
shares to be traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol
SUNG, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
Sunity operates websites for its games Qihang and Han
Dynasty--both listed among the top games of 2010--and is developing
five more online games. It also plans to create games for mobile
and wireless devices soon.
On one website, players pay based on the amount of time they
spend playing the game. On the other, they play games for free, but
are charged for purchases of in-game items, such as clothing,
accessories and pets. Prepaid game tokens are available at Internet
cafes, websites, news stands, software stores, book stores and
retail stores.
Sales in China's online game sector have slowed as the industry
has matured, weighing on results of another online games company
Shanda Games Ltd. (GAME), which this month reported a 16% decline
in second-quarter net profit because of decreased sales and
margins.
Sunity plans to use proceeds of the IPO to expand its research
and development efforts, increase sales and marketing activities,
and expand its game portfolio through acquisitions.
In the three months ended June 30, Sunity reported a 7.9% profit
increase, while revenue rose 5.3%.
The U.S. IPO market has been rocky lately with many companies
cutting their prices and some delaying their offerings. Chinese
companies have seen mixed results, with Chinese real-estate website
SouFun Holdings Ltd.'s (SFUN) IPO coming in second-best for this
year. Its stock ended its first day up 73% after selling a mere 2.9
million shares.
-By Kathy Shwiff, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2357;
Kathy.Shwiff@dowjones.com