INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
China's largest artificial intelligence company priced its IPO at HK$3.85 (49 cents) per shareJust weeks after the United States placed a
unit of SenseTime Group Inc
on a blacklist for alleged human rights violations, the firm is about to make founder Tang Xiao'ou one of the world's richest people
China's largest artificial intelligence company priced its initial public offering at HK$3.85 (49 cents) per share, raising HK$5.55
billion.That was the bottom of the expected range, but a signal that despite increased tensions with the United States and Beijing's
crackdown on tech giants, the country, including its vast surveillance machinery, continues to churn out huge fortunes and massive gains for
venture capitalists.Tang, 53, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate and information engineering professor at the Chinese
University of Hong Kong, holds a 21% stake in the company and is worth $3.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.A
representative for SenseTime declined to comment on Tang's net worth.SenseTime was long expected to be a blockbuster public offering but
has drawn fire in recent years
It was forced to delay the listing this month after the United States alleged the company's facial-recognition software is used in the
oppression of Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang autonomous region of western China
SenseTime has said the accusations, which led to the sanctions, are unfounded.SenseTime is the first overseas offering by a high-profile
Chinese tech unicorn since ride-sharing giant Didi Global Inc.'s July IPO in New York sparked a regulatory backlash by officials in
The shares are scheduled to start trading Dec
30 in Hong Kong, giving the company a market value of more than $16 billion.Tang has long been involved in developing the artificial
intelligence required for facial recognition.He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Science and Technology of China,
then graduated from the University of Rochester in New York and got his PhD from MIT in 1996, where he studied underwater robotics and
research scientist at Chinese computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd
The company attracted early investment from IDG Capital and then picked up backers including SoftBank Group Corp., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd
and Silver Lake.It's now the largest AI software firm in Asia with an 11% market share, according to the prospectus
The technology is deployed in a range of areas, including helping police in China, providing product placements in films and creating an
augmented reality scene in a mobile game by Tencent Holdings Ltd.SenseTime relaunched its IPO process days after the blacklist with a group
of cornerstone investors increasing their bets to $512 million from $450 million
These included state-backed Mixed-Ownership Reform Fund and the Shanghai Xuhui Capital Investment Co
Sponsors included China International Capital Corp., Haitong International Securities Group Ltd
and HSBC Holdings Plc.The company later uploaded a legal opinion to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, claiming the restrictions didn't apply to
the parent company of the sanctioned unit
While the offering size remained the same, retail investors reportedly expressed more caution
edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
