Chinese technology company Shanda Interactive Entertainment is planning to spin off its video games unit and raise as much as USD800 million in an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States, looking to follow its rival Sohu.com.
The unit, Shanda Games Ltd, plans to list shares on the NASDAQ, according to a prospectus filed last week.
Shanda Games has produced popular Chinese video games such as The World of Legend. In April it launched the multi-player online role-playing game AION in China after licensing it from South Korea’s NCSoft Corp.