Chinese travel site 17u.cn announced today that it has received all of a RMB eight-figure investment from Tencent (0700.HK) and has begun IPO preparations, with a goal of listing on the ChiNext board.

17u.cn CEO Wu Zhixiang said that Tencent would hold less than 30% of 17u.cn following the investment, and that the company's management team continued to hold a controlling share of the company.

"After the investment, Tencent will use 17u.cn as its primary partner for air ticketing services, and will use eLong (Nasdaq: LONG) as its primary partner for hotel services," Wu said. "17u.cn will connect its services to Tencent B2B2C platform QQ Buy and Tencent's travel channel. 17u.cn is also working with Suning's (002024.SZ) e-commerce subsidiary Suning Yigou (Suning.com) and other e-commerce partners."

Source:marbridgeconsulting