Baillie Gifford, GIC are said to buy shares in MiniMax’s HK$4.8 billion Hong Kong IPO
Norway’s Norges Bank Investment Management and asset manager Schroders are also among buyers, sources say
[HONG KONG] Investment firm Baillie Gifford and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC are among those buying shares in MiniMax Group’s much-awaited HK$4.8 billion (S$791.2 million) initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) firm’s IPO, which was priced at the top of its marketed range, saw institutional investors bid for more than 70 times the shares available for them, excluding the cornerstone tranche, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter.
The deal received more than 460 bids from institutions, they said.
Norway’s Norges Bank Investment Management and asset manager Schroders are also among buyers, the people said. Global long-only investors – which generally invest in stocks they expect to rise while abstaining from short-selling – and sovereign wealth funds took up a majority of shares available for institutions excluding the cornerstone tranche, the people added.
A representative for Schroders declined to comment. Norges Bank also declined to comment, while Baillie Gifford and GIC did not respond to requests for comments.
Shares of MiniMax, one of China’s largest generative AI startups that is seen as a challenger to OpenAI, are set to start trading in Hong Kong on Friday (Jan 9) amid a wave of blockbuster listings in the sector both on the mainland and in Hong Kong.
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On Thursday, shares of rival Knowledge Atlas Technology JSC, better known as Zhipu, climbed 13 per cent in their debut in the Asian financial hub.
Both MiniMax and Zhipu epitomise China’s no-frills approach to AI, operating with far less capital, fewer chips and leaner headcounts than the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic. Their stock performance is being seen as an early measure of whether investors view the firms as credible challengers to their US counterparts.
Ahead of their debut, MiniMax’s shares jumped as much as 22 per cent in grey-market trading in Hong Kong on Thursday. BLOOMBERG
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