Chinese firms eye US IPO gold

One of China's largest social networking companies, Oak Pacific Interactive, has hired investment banks for an initial public offering in the United States next year, the first in a rush of Chinese Facebook clones looking to list.
Oak Pacific Interactive (OPI) has hired Credit Suisse Group AG and Deutsche Bank AG to underwrite its IPO slated for the first half of next year, sources close to the matter told Reuters on Friday.
The firm owns China's largest online social networking site Renren and Nuomi, similar to the popular US website Groupon featuring daily deals and entertainment community Mop.
TaoMee, a social networking site for children, was also planning to list late next year and would conduct its "beauty parade" for investment banks in the first quarter of 2011, said a source familiar with the situation.
Social networking site Kaixin001 also plans to list but has not gone through the process of selecting banks, said the source, who declined to be named as the matter was not public.
"The question is whether these companies are really going to become the Facebook of China," said Paul Wuh, a Hong Kong-based analyst with Samsung Securities.
"How they are going to monetise: through advertising or through gaming, that's the question, which one will be the most successful will depend on the business model they choose," said Wuh.
OPI's Renren website is similar to Facebook as it allows users to share locations with friends, "like" something and post updates. Renren has about 100 million registered users.