SenseTime considers reopening of Hong Kong IPO

The logo of SenseTime is seen at the SenseTime office in Shanghai.

Three people with direct knowledge of the matter said that SenseTime Group plans to keep its Hong Kong initial public offering IPO at $767 million and that it considers re-launching the withdrawn deal as early as Monday.

The information is not public, and the people could not be identified.

A spokesman for SenseTime, which withdrew its Hong Kong IPO on Monday after it was put on an investment blacklist by the administration of U.S. President Biden, didn't want to give a statement to Reuters.

The U.S. Treasury added SenseTime to a list of Chinese military-industrial complexes, accusing it of having developed a facial recognition programme that can determine a target's ethnicity, with a focus on identifying ethnic Uyghurs.

Sources told Reuters at the time that SenseTime had not expected the decision, and came as the bookbuild to raise $767 million was about to be finalised.

Sources told Reuters that the company was working to update its prospectus to include the investment ban in its risk factor sections.

SenseTime could launch the deal on Monday to raise the same amount as the initial Hong KongIPO, they said, pending approval from the Hong Kong exchange of the amended risk disclosures.

The sources said that the deal size and timetable could change.

SenseTime planned to sell 1.5 billion shares in a price range of HK $3.85 to HK 3.99 each, according to its initial filings.

The deal was relaunched on Thursday, according to Bloomberg News.