SenseTime to price shares at HK$3.85 in Hong Kong IPO - sources (updated)

C-Mer Medical Holdings

23/12/2021 03:05

(Adds deal detail starting from paragraph 4)
    By Kane Wu and Scott Murdoch
    HONG KONG, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Chinese artificial
intelligence start-up SenseTime Group  0020.HK  plans to price
its shares at HK$3.85 ($0.4936) each to raise $740 million in
its revised Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), according
to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
    The sources could not be named as the information has not
been made public.
    SenseTime declined to comment to Reuters.
    The company sold 1.5 billion shares in the deal, its second
attempt to list in Hong Kong in a matter of weeks. It had
flagged a HK$3.85 to $HK3.99 per share price range when the deal
was relaunched on Monday.
    Its initial attempt was shelved after SenseTime was placed
on a U.S. investment blacklist as the institutional bookbuild
was being finalised.
    The decision by the U.S. Treasury meant U.S. investors could
not buy into the offering which was withdrawn while SenseTime
revised its prospectus. 
    SenseTime increased the value of the cornerstone investors
from $450 million to about $511 million in a bid to have the IPO
carried out successfully.
    Among its nine cornerstone investors are China's state-owned
Mixed Ownership Reform Fund, which committed the largest portion
of $200 million, Shanghai government-backed Xuhui Capital and
Shanghai Guosheng Group, state-owned carmaker SAIC Motor Corp
Ltd  600104.SS  and Hong Kong government fund HKSTP Venture
Fund.
    Hong Kong-listed ophthalmic services provider C-MER
 3309.HK  is the only non-state cornerstone investor.
    In its revised prospectus, SenseTime said the investment ban
would have no impact on its business operations. 
    SenseTime shares are due to start trading on the Hong Kong
Stock Exchange on December 30.

($1 = 7.7993 Hong Kong dollars)

 (Reporting by Kane Wu and Scott Murdoch; Editing by Christian
Schmollinger and Stephen Coates)
 ((Scott.Murdoch@thomsonreuters.com;))