UBTech Robotics, a maker of robots backed by Tencent Holdings, is seeking as much as HK$1.31 billion (US$167.4 million) from an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong. Its 47-year old founder Zhou Jian is set to become a billionaire after the listing.
The Shenzhen-based company will sell 11.3 million new shares at an indicative range from HK$86 to HK$116 per share, according to a Hong Kong stock exchange filing on Tuesday. The stock is slated to start trading on December 29, the final market trading day of 2023.
Guotai Junan Securities is the sole sponsor of the IPO. Citic Securities, CMBC Capital, Huatai Securities, BNP Paribas and Shenwan Hongyuan will join Guotai Junan as global coordinators.
The listing will give UBTech a HK$35.9 billion market capitalisation if the shares are sold at the top of the price range, the filing said. Zhou, who is also the firm’s chairman and CEO, has a 24.8 per cent direct stake, worth between US$1.14 billion and US$1.54 billion based on the IPO price range. Tencent has a 6.3 per cent stake.
China’s service robot market is forecast to grow at an annual compound rate of 24 per cent to 183.2 billion yuan (US$25.6 billion) by 2028, outpacing the 18 per cent growth rate globally, according to Frost & Sullivan.
UBTech is China’s biggest manufacturer of educational robots with a 23 per cent market share, based on its 2022’s annual revenue, according to its IPO prospectus. Educational and logistics robots contributed at least 77 per cent to its annual sales over the past three years.