Megvii, the $4bn Chinese facial recognition company under US sanctions, has cleared a big hurdle on its way to a Hong Kong stock market debut, putting its $500m initial public offering back on track.
The stock exchange’s 27-member listing committee has cleared Megvii to publish a new prospectus, according to people involved in the process. The bourse said in November that the company had to provide more information about the effect of US sanctions on its operations.
The decision does not constitute formal approval to list, said the people, but it revives a process that was threatened after the US commerce department put Megvii on a blacklist last year on the grounds of alleged human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang province.