China's Meituan Dianping confirms $4.4 billion Hong Kong IPO plans

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's Meituan Dianping, an online food delivery-to-ticketing services platform, confirmed it had filed for an up to $4.4 billion Hong Kong IPO and said it will focus on its domestic business instead of overseas expansion in the near future.

This follows a Reuters report over the weekend, citing four sources, that Meituan had set an indicative price range of HK$60 to HK$72 ($7.64-$9.17) per share for its IPO, valuing itself at up to $55 billion, in what would be the world's biggest internet-focused float in four years.

Beijing-based Meituan, which offers services ranging from movie ticketing, food delivery to hotel and travel booking as well as ride-hailing, was valued at around $30 billion in a fundraising round late last year.

Meituan does not have big plans to expand overseas in the near future and will focus on the domestic market, its co-founder and chief executive, Wang Xing, said at a news conference in Hong Kong on Thursday.

Founded in 2010, Meituan which used to be likened to U.S. discounting platform Groupon Inc, in 2015 completed a $15 billion merger with then-main rival Dianping, akin to U.S. online review firm Yelp Inc.

Currently, its competitors include Alibaba-backed food-delivery platform Ele.me and leading ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing, backed by Japan's SoftBank Group Corp.

This year, Meituan invested in Indonesian ride hailing firm Go-Jek and Indian online delivery service provider Swiggy.

Meituan, however, will not increase its investments in the car-hailing business and instead concentrate on its key business of food delivery, said Wang Huiwen, the company's co-founder and senior vice president.

($1 = 7.8495 Hong Kong dollars)

(Reporting by Julie Zhu; Editing by Himani Sarkar)