Another Chinese billionaire to emerge as Tencent-backed robot maker UBTech makes final Hong Kong IPO of 2023
- Chinese maker of robots is selling 11.3 million new shares to investors at an indicative price range of HK$86 to HK$116 each
- Zhou Jian, the company’s 47-year old founder and CEO, is set to become a billionaire after the listing on the final trading day of 2023
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.
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.