Chinese artificial intelligence start-up SenseTime Group postponed its $767 million Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) on Monday after being put on a US investment blacklist.
SenseTime stated that it was still dedicated to completing the offering and that it would issue a revised prospectus as well as an updated listing timeframe.
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The company intends to withdraw the offering and revise its prospectus to reflect the probable impact of the US investment ban, with the goal of resuming the IPO process, reported Reuters.
According to regulatory filings, SenseTime planned to offer 1.5 billion shares at a price range of HK$3.85 to HK$3.99. This might raise up to $767 million, a sum that had already been reduced from a $2 billion aim earlier this year.
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Instead of declaring its listing price on Friday, as planned, it found itself in urgent negotiations with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and lawyers regarding the deal’s viability amid concerns of a potential blacklist.
In a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday, SenseTime did not specify a timetable for a revised IPO.
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The company stated that it would repay in full, without interest, to applicants who subscribed to its shares throughout the offering process.
The US Treasury put SenseTime on a list of “Chinese military-industrial complex companies,” accusing it of developing face recognition programs capable of determining a target’s ethnicity, with a special emphasis on identifying ethnic Uyghurs.
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According to UN experts and rights activists, over a million individuals, mostly Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minorities, have been detained in a vast system of camps in China’s far-western province of Xinjiang in recent years.
China denies human rights violations in Xinjiang, but the US government and several human rights organizations believe Beijing is committing genocide there.
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In a statement issued on Saturday, SenseTime said it “strongly opposed the designation and accusations that have been made in connection with it,” calling the accusations “unfounded.”