LivingSocial Looks to Raise $200 Million

Just a couple weeks after Groupon went public, rival LivingSocial is looking to raise some cash, too.

LivingSocial hopes to raise nearly $200 million from new and old investors and is discussing plans for a credit facility of $100 million, sources tell the New York Times. The deal, expected to close next week, would value the company at more than $5 billion. CNBC notes the investors will be announced next week and likely will include JPMorgan & Chase, Amazon and T. Rowe Price.

LivingSocial has been taking a more tempered approach than its rival in terms of preparing for an initial public offering. At the time of Groupon's IPO, which took place on Nov. 4, the company had a market value of approximately $12.7 billion. That number was well short of the $25 billion the company aimed for earlier in the year. Groupon initially planned to go public in the summer, but decided to hold off because of market turmoil and concerns over the company's accounting practices.

The initial price of Groupon's stock was $20 a share, allowing the company to raise $700 million in the IPO. The current market cap of Groupon is $16.7 billion. Shares of the company rose 5.72 percent Friday to close at $26.19.

According to Yipit, LivingSocial controls a 21 percent share of the daily-deal sites market, second to Groupon, which controls a 49 percent market share. But that could change as companies such as Google and Gannett have tried to make a dent in Groupon's market share by launching their own daily-deal programs.