SenseTime shares rally on debut after $740mln Hong Kong IPO

Shares in SenseTime surged 23% from their initial public offering price on Thursday, adding billions of dollars to the start-up's market value as it debuted in Hong Kong

SenseTime Group shares rallied in its Hong Kong debut on Thursday - about two weeks later than initially expected.

Shares in the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup surged 23% from their initial public offering (IPO) price on Thursday, adding billions of dollars to the start-up's market value as it debuted in Hong Kong in the city's final major float for the year.

Some analysts had expected the shares to struggle due to weak demand during the IPO process and worries about SenseTime's inclusion on a U.S. investment blacklist that prompted the Chinese firm to shelve its first attempt to list.

The main reason that support is coming to the share price is that the market had already digested the U.S. sanction issue, said Kenny Ng, Everbright Sun Hung Kai analyst.

SenseTime set the IPO price at the lower end of the range which left room for the price performance after listing, Kenny said.

The Chinese company raised $740 million in its IPO and priced its shares at HK$3.85 (US$0.4937) each.

The deal valued SenseTime at $16.4 billion, while at the session's high its market capitalisation had added some $3.8 billion.

SenseTime ended at HK$4.13 (US$0.53) in its debut session, up 7.3% from its IPO price. It was the fifth most actively traded stock by turnover with 329.97 million shares changing hands worth HK$1.406 billion (US$0.18 billion).

The broader Hang Seng Index gained just 0.11% while tech stocks in Hong Kong were marginally positive on the day.

SenseTime's IPO was Hong Kong's fifth largest in 2021, Dealogic data shows.

Hong Kong has struggled to attract big ticket deals this year due to a regulatory crackdown on a number of sectors by Chinese authorities.