Ashurst, King & Wood Mallesons, Bird & Bird, Guangdong Sun Law Firm, Deacons, Dorsey and Zhong Lun Law Firm have advised on Chinese robot maker UBTech Robotics’ HKD1.01 billion (USD130 million) IPO in Hong Kong.
Cornerstone investor, E-Town International, subscribed to RMB500 million worth of IPO shares.
Bird & Bird advised UBTech on Hong Kong law. Ashurst advised the company on US law, regulatory and compliance matters as well as international sanction law. KWM advised on PRC law, data security and privacy protection matters. Guangdong Sun advised on PRC litigation matters for the company.
Partner Zhou Rui, Tian Weina and Mark Fu led the KWM team.
Deacons advised the sole sponsor, Guotai Junan Capital and the other underwriters on Hong Kong law, with partner Ronny Chow leading the team.
Simon Chan, partner and co-head of Dorsey’s Hong Kong office, led the team advising Guotai Junan on US law. The team included Christopher Doerksen, partner and Seattle office corporate head and John Chase, tax partner in Dorsey’s Palo Alto office.
Zhong Lun advised the sole sponsor on PRC law with non-equity partner Yang Jing leading the team, which included equity partner Wang Chuan and Hu Tingfeng.
Frost & Sullivan’s data reveals that in terms of revenue, UBTech holds the position of China’s top provider of educational smart robotic products and services with a market share of 22.5% in 2022.
Nevertheless, the humanoid robot market faced challenges during the initial stages of development. According to the listing prospectus, UBTech’s humanoid robot, Walker, contributed only 0.9% to total sales in the first half of 2023. The company experienced a net loss of nearly RMB1 billion in 2022, marking the third consecutive year of losses.
