By Scott Murdoch and Echo Wang
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Chinese sensor maker Hesai Group’s shares closed 10.8% percent higher at $21.05 on their first day of trade in New York after the company raised $190 million in its upsized initial public offering (IPO), the largest deal by a mainland Chinese company in the United States in more than a year.
The company sold 10 million American depository shares (ADS) at $19 apiece, according to its regulatory filings.
The Shanghai-based Hesai produces laser-based components essential for autonomous driving systems known as lidar sensors.
The deal is the largest from a Chinese company to sell shares in New York since LianBio raised $334 million in October 2021, according to Refinitiv data.
“We always wanted to be able to compete at the global stage, not only on the product, but also on the capital side,” Hesai’s co-founder and CEO, Yifan “David” Li, told Reuters.
Chinese company listings in the United States hit a halt in 2021 following the debut of ride hailing giant Didi Global Inc in June of that year.
Days after Didi went public, China’s powerful internet watchdog, Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), launched a cybersecurity probe into the company’s data practices and ordered app stores to remove 25 mobile apps operated by Didi.
As a result, Chinese listings in the United States dwindled and mainland regulators also moved to draw up new guidelines governing companies selling shares overseas.
The final rules are yet to be published by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).
China also announced in January last year that platform companies with data on more than 1 million users would require sign-off from the CAC before listing overseas.
“Unfortunately, there were a lot of regulatory concerns from last year that it became challenging for anybody to list. And I feel like most of those concerns are gone”, said Li, adding, “investors are pretty confident and somewhat bullish about our business.”
Chinese companies raised nearly $230 million in U.S. listings in 2022, according to Refinitiv data, representing a massive drop from $12.85 billion a year earlier.
However, advisers are hoping China’s reopened borders and the government’s renewed focus on reviving economic growth could prompt more capital raises and share sales.
After the U.S. accounting watchdog said in mid-December that it had full access to inspect and investigate firms in China for the first time ever, the prospect of Chinese companies in the United States being delisted over accounting issues has been reduced.
(Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Sydney and Echo Wang in New York)
