Chinese AI startup Fourth Paradigm receives China’s nod for Hong Kong IPO

BEIJING Fourth Paradigm Technology, an AI startup, has completed procedural work for a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), becoming only one of a handful of companies to get the nod from China’s securities regulator since new rules became effective this year.

The company has successfully completed the offshore listing filing process, according a Jul 3 filing on the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) website.

The greenlight comes at time when regulatory scrutiny of proposals for share offerings has intensified in the wake of new listing rules, lengthening the waiting time for approvals, sources have said.

The new rules, which were put in place after a regulatory crackdown on offshore listings, became effective on Mar 31. Fourth Paradigm and one other company got the CSRC greenlight on Jul 3, adding to two other firms this year. They have yet to go public.

Fourth Paradigm, also known as 4Paradigm, filed its fourth IPO application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in April.

The company was added to the US “Entity List” this year, which means US suppliers are barred from shipping US technology to it unless they can procure a difficult-to-obtain licence from the Commerce Department.

Founded in September 2014, Fourth Paradigm’s products have been widely used in finance, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, energy and power, telecommunications,healthcare and other sectors, its website said.

Fourth Paradigm counts Goldman Sachs, Sinovation, Haitong International Investment and a number of state-backed funds as investors, the CSRC filing showed.

China International Capital, CCB International, China Merchants Securities and CMB International are coordinators of the IPO, according to the stock exchange filing. REUTERS