Horizon Robotics soars 28% in Hong Kong debut as IPOs return in bumper week for fundraising

Listed under the code 9660, the tech company’s shares changed hands at HK$5.12, a jump of 28 per cent from their IPO price of HK$3.99, after its chairman and chief executive Yu Kai struck the ceremonial gong to mark the debut.

Beijing-headquartered Horizon raised HK$5.4 billion (US$696 million) in an offering that priced its shares at the top end of the marketed price range. The IPO is Hong Kong’s second-largest this year after Midea Group’s US$4.6 billion share sale last month.

“The completion of our IPO in Hong Kong marks a significant step in our journey to step out into the global market,” Horizon’s chairman and CEO Yu Kai said before striking the ceremonial gong at the exchange to kick off the trading. “We will increase our investments in research and continue our commitment towards innovations to create value for our users, and make travelling safer and better for everyone.”

Horizon was founded in 2015 by Yu, who previously worked at Baidu and led projects in deep learning and autonomous driving.

Horizon’s IPO was oversubscribed by 33.8 times by retail investors and 13.8 times by global funds, which may encourage the firm to exercise an option to sell an additional 203 million shares at the same price and swell the proceeds to US$800 million.