By Scott Murdoch
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Chinese artificial intelligence startup Beijing Fourth Paradigm is set to price its shares at HK$55.6 each, the low end of the price range, to raise HK$1.023 billion ($131 million), a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The source spoke on condition of anonymity as the information is not yet public.
Fourth Paradigm, which declined to comment, was added to the U.S. “Entity List” this year, which means U.S. suppliers are barred from shipping U.S. technology to it unless they can procure a hard-to-obtain licence from the Commerce Department.
Fourth Paradigm is selling 18.4 million shares in the IPO and had flagged a price range to investors of HK$55.60 to HK$61.16 each, according to its regulatory filings.
It is the second IPO this week to price at the bottom end of the range with Tuhu Car raising $145 million with the final price at the low point.
Three cornerstone investors, headed by New China Capital Management, subscribed for about $96.8 million worth of Fourth Paradigm stock, which equates to 70.6% of the IPO, the filings showed.
Founded in September 2014, Fourth Paradigm’s products have been used in finance, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, energy and power, telecommunications, healthcare and other sectors, according to its website.
Fourth Paradigm counts Goldman Sachs, Sinovation, Haitong International Investment and a number of state-backed funds as pre-IPO investors, according to filings.
(Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Sydney; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Alexander Smith)
