China AInnovation said to price Hong Kong IPO at bottom of range

[HONG KONG] Qingdao AInnovation Technology Group, a Chinese startup backed by SoftBank Group, has priced its Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) at the bottom of its marketed range, according to people familiar with the matter.

The artificial intelligence (AI) company offered 44.7 million new shares at HK$26.30 (S$4.54) apiece, the sources said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. At that price, it would raise about HK$1.18 billion. The company had marketed the shares at HK$26.30 to HK$27.30 each. The stock is expected to start trading on Jan 27.

A representative for AInnovation did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours in Hong Kong. UBS Group, China International Capital and China Renaissance Holdings are joint sponsors of the offering. Founded in early 2018, Beijing-based AInnovation provides a "full stack" of AI solutions for manufacturing, financial services and other industries, according to its website. Its suite of platforms - ManuVision, MatrixVision and Orion - come armed with software designed to detect common defects, encode and decode images in video streams and process big data, the website shows.

The first-time share sale follows the debut last month of larger Chinese AI firm SenseTime Group, which was successful despite a decision by the US Treasury Department to sanction the company. Shares of SenseTime, which raised US$741 million in its IPO, rose as high as HK$9.70 earlier this month - more than double the offer price of HK$3.85 apiece, which was the bottom of a marketed range.

IPOs in Hong Kong have hit a bump after Beijing's tough crackdown on China's technology industry, which is awaiting better clarity from regulators on rules governing overseas listings and the need for data security reviews.

BLOOMBERG