(Yicai Global) July 2 -- Norway-based web browser Opera, owned by China's Kunlun Tech and its chairman, has filed for an initial public offering in the US.

Opera, which makes search engines for PCs and mobiles, intends to raise up to USD115 million in the IPO on Nasdaq, its prospectus shows. Zhou Yahui, chairman of Kunlun Tech, one of China's biggest game developers and operators, controls 67.5 percent of all the shares, and 48 percent of the stake available in the offering.

Kunlun Tech bought Opera in Nov. 2016, after which it changed the business model to emphasize advertising and added social networking features. The Beijing-based parent said it might reduce or add the number of its shares after the listing.

Opera had an average of 322 million monthly active users as of the end of March. The browser business reported a revenue of USD39 million in the first quarter of this year, up 55 percent from the year before. The adjusted net profit stood at USD9.9 million, surging more than nine-fold from the same period last year.

China International Capital Corporation and Citigroup are the underwriters to the upcoming IPO.

Editor: Emmi Laine