China AInnovation Said to Price Hong Kong IPO at Bottom of Range

(Bloomberg) -- Qingdao AInnovation Technology Group Co., a Chinese startup backed by SoftBank Group Corp., has priced its Hong Kong initial public offering at the bottom of its marketed range, according to people familiar with the matter.

The artificial intelligence company offered 44.7 million new shares at HK$26.30 apiece, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. At that price, it would raise about HK$1.18 billion ($151 million). 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 didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours in Hong Kong. UBS Group AG, China International Capital Corp. and China Renaissance Holdings Ltd. 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 Inc., which was successful despite a decision by the U.S. Treasury Department to sanction the company. Shares of SenseTime, which raised $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. 

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.