SenseTime proceeds with HK listing despite US sanctions
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HONG KONG • Chinese artificial intelligence start-up SenseTime said yesterday that it will press ahead with its Hong Kong listing, a week after it was blacklisted by the United States over accusations of genocide in Xinjiang.
An initial listing earlier this month was pulled when the US Treasury announced new sanctions, saying SenseTime's facial recognition programmes were designed in part to be used against Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.
China denies abuses in Xinjiang.
SenseTime filed a revised listing with the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday, with trading expected to start on Dec 30.
"Due to the dynamic and evolving nature of the relevant US regulations, we have been required to exclude US investors," the company wrote.
Bloomberg News reported that SenseTime had secured about US$512 million (S$700.6 million) from nine cornerstone investors, including state-backed Mixed-Ownership Reform Fund and Shanghai Xuhui Capital Investment Company.
The company is still planning to hit the pre-blacklisting US$767 million target, with 1.5 billion shares at HK$3.85 to HK$3.99 per share.
The US accuses SenseTime of being part of China's "military-industrial complex" that provides technology for mass surveillance in Xinjiang. It says SenseTime has developed and deployed facial recognition software that can determine a person's ethnicity, including whether someone looks Uighur.
SenseTime refuted the blacklisting, saying the accusations were unfounded and emphasised that the company was "caught in the middle of geopolitical tension".
The Treasury sanctions prevent individuals from obtaining visas to the US, block assets under US jurisdiction, and prevent targets from doing business with American individuals or entities.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
