ZTO Express Inc., a Shanghai-based delivery company, aims to raise as much as US$1.3 billion in the biggest U.S. initial public offering (IPO) by a Chinese entity since its key customer Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. went public.

    The company is marketing 72.1 million American depository receipts, or ADRs, for US$16.50 to US$18.50 apiece, according to a filing Friday. A successful sale would rank No. 7 among all IPOs by Chinese companies on a U.S. exchange.

    Online retailer Alibaba, which uses ZTO Express to fulfil orders, raised US$25 billion in 2014 in the biggest such offering on record.

    ZTO Express also counts Chinese online retail giant JD.com Inc. among its customers. It handled 2.9 billion packages in 2015, according to its IPO prospectus, up 62 percent from a year earlier. The 827.7 million packages ZTO Express transported in the first quarter of 2016 made up 14 percent of all express parcels delivered in China, according to iResearch, cited in the company’s deal prospectus.

    Founded in 2002, ZTO Express plans to use the proceeds from the IPO to buy land, trucks and sorting equipment, build facilities and for general corporate purposes.

    ZTO Express posted net income of US$200.4 million on revenue of US$915.8 million in 2015. In the first six months of this year, net income was US$115.1 million on US$638.8 million in revenue. (SD-Agencies)