In a sign of very strong demand, Chinese Internet search engine Baidu boosted its IPO terms on Wednesday evening. According to an amended SEC filing, Baidu now expects to price its upcoming offering at a range of $23-$25 per ADS, up from $19-$21 per ADS. The company also bumped up the number of shares to be offered to 4.04 million from 3.7 million. Of that amount, the company now plans to offer 3.2 million shares (up from 2.6 million) and insiders now intend to offer to 831,706 (down from 1.1 million). At the high end of the revised offering terms, Baidu would command a total market value of $846 million, up 27% from its originally proposed valuation. Lead underwriter Goldman Sachs expects to price the deal Thursday night for trading on Friday. The company will list on the Nasdaq under the symbol “BIDU”.
