Chinese autonomous driving company Momenta has debuted on the HKEX on 8 July, raising HKD5.89 billion (USD751 million) and becoming the first physical AI-focused company to list in Hong Kong.
Davis Polk, Fangda Partners, Harneys, Hogan Lovells (now Hogan Lovells Cadwalader), Cleary Gottlieb STeen & Hamilton and Jingtian & Gongcheng advised on the transaction.
Momenta issued 19.94 million shares at HKD295.6 per share, with its market capitalisation exceeding HKD70 billion after its listing.
The offering attracted 14 cornerstone investors, including Singapore’s GIC, Fidelity International, BlackRock and Oaktree Capital. CICC and Deutsche Bank acted as joint sponsors.
Davis Polk served as the issuer’s Hong Kong and US legal counsel. The team was led by partners He Li, Jason Xu and Li Ran, with counsel Raymond Lai providing support.
Fangda Partners acted as PRC legal counsel and data compliance counsel to the issuer. The listing team was led by partners Jeffrey Ding, Wei Jianbo, Cassie Chang and Travis Xu, while the data compliance team was led by partners Gil Zhang and Li Huihui.
Harneys advised the issuer on Cayman Islands law, while Hogan Lovells (now Hogan Lovells Cadwalader) acted as the international sanctions legal counsel, led by partner Ben Kostrzewa.
For the underwriters, Cleary Gottlieb advised on Hong Kong and US law. Jingtian & Gongcheng acted as PRC legal counsel, with partner Gao Xiang leading the team and partner Zhang Jing participating.
The prospectus stated the IPO proceeds would be used primarily for technology R&D, accelerating the commercialisation and scaling of its robotaxi services, strengthening its mass-production intelligent driving solutions business and developing next-generation products, as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes.
Headquartered in Suzhou, Momenta was founded in 2016 and focuses on the R&D and commercialisation of intelligent driving solutions for production vehicles and robotaxi services. Its products cover different levels of autonomous driving solutions, together with related big data services.
Founder and CEO Cao Xudong previously worked at Microsoft before serving as R&D director at the AI company SenseTime.
