WANDA Sports Group, a sport events owner whose interests include selling sponsorship rights to the FIFA World Cup, said Friday it priced a smaller-than-expected U.S. initial public offering (IPO) below its targeted range to raise US$190.4 million.

The Beijing-based company, a unit of Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group, sold about 23.8 million American depositary shares (ADS) at US$8 each, compared with a previously stated target of selling 28 million ADS between US$9 to US$11.

The weak pricing values the owner of Infront Sports & Media AG, a Swiss sports marketing company, and World Triathlon Corp., the organizer and promoter of the Ironman race, at around US$1 billion.

It indicates tepid U.S. investor demand for Chinese stocks after China’s largest live-streaming platform DouYu International Holdings priced its US$775 million Nasdaq IPO at the bottom of a price range two weeks ago.

On Wednesday, Wanda Sports cut the size of its IPO to up to US$308 million from a previous size of up to US$500 million.

Wanda Sports, which owns sports properties and generates revenue from events operation, sponsorship and media production, in 2018 reported a profit of 54 million euros (US$60 million), a 31 percent drop from a year earlier.

The company recorded a loss of 8.6 million euros in the first three months of 2019.

The IPO follows a string of assets sales by parent Dalian Wanda, which had built a sprawling business empire ranging from real estate to sport to cinemas. (SD-Agencies)