U.S. to Put Chinese Firm SenseTime on Blacklist Ahead of $767 Million Listing
The United States will put Chinese artificial intelligence
company SenseTime on an investment blacklist on Friday, the Financial Times
reported, citing people familiar with the decision, as the company is
finalising its Hong Kong IPO.
The startup had not been aware it could be added to a U.S.
blacklist, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter, adding
the news also caught bankers working on the $767 million deal by surprise.
A call was under way late on Thursday in Hong Kong hours
between the company and its advisers to discuss the implications of the ban on
its initial public offering (IPO), the sources said, declining to be identified
as the information was not yet public.
SenseTime told Reuters it had no immediate comment on the
blacklisting report, and did not respond to questions about the future of the
IPO.
The company was planning to sell 1.5 billion shares within a
price range of HK$3.85 to HK$3.99 each in the IPO. It is due to set the final
price and allocate shares to institutional investors on Friday, according to
the firm's filings.
The Financial Times said that the U.S. Treasury will place
SenseTime on a list of "Chinese military-industrial complex
companies".
In June, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order
that barred Americans from investing in companies on the list.
If added to the blacklist, U.S. investors would not be able
to buy into the IPO.
A number of U.S. investors had placed bids to buy stock in
the IPO and the implication of the ban on their order was unclear, one direct
source added.
The FT said the action against SenseTime will be part of a
part of a package of sanctions against a number of countries to mark Human
Rights Day.
The United States alleges SenseTime is among Chinese
companies that played a role in human rights abuses against Muslim minority
groups in China, an allegation which Beijing denies.
On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed
legislation to ban imports from China’s Xinjiang region over concerns about
forced labor.
SenseTime was placed on a U.S. Commerce Department blacklist
in 2019 and the company said at the time that it strongly opposed the U.S.
trade restrictions and would work with relevant authorities to resolve the
situation.
Comments
Post a Comment