Lenovo said it had filed to issue so-called Chinese depositary receipts (CDRs) on the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Chinese facial recognition unicorn Megvii prepares China IPO
Megvii, one of China’s largest facial recognition startups, is gearing up for an initial public offering in Shanghai. The company is working with CITIC Securities to prepare for its planned listing, according to an announcement posted by the China Securities Regulatory Commission on Tuesday.
The move came more than a year after Megvii, known for its computer vision platform Face++, filed to go public in Hong Kong in August 2019. At the time, Reuters reported that the company could raise between $500 million and $1 billion. However, the firm’s IPO application in Hong Kong has lapsed for undisclosed reasons and its focus is now on Shanghai’s STAR board, a person with knowledge of the matter told TechCrunch.
On Tuesday, Lenovo said it had filed a request to the Hong Kong stock exchange, asking them to issue so-called Chinese depositary receipts (CDRs) on the Science and Technology Innovation Board or Star Market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
CDRs allow mainland Chinese investors to buy equity in non-Chinese incorporated companies, and are similar to American depositary receipts (ADRs) which allow stocks of non-U.S. company shares to trade on American exchanges. They are technically not shares but represent equity interest in a company.
Lenovo said it intends to issue new ordinary shares that would represent no more than 10% of the total enlarged number of ordinary shares of the company.