Chinese AI startup Fourth Paradigm receives China's nod for Hong Kong IPO

By Kane Wu

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Beijing Fourth Paradigm Technology, an AI startup, has completed procedural work for a Hong Kong initial public offering, becoming only one of a handful of companies to get the nod from China's securities regulator since new rules became effective this year.

The company has successfully completed the offshore listing filing process，according a July 3 filing on the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) website.

The greenlight comes at time when regulatory scrutiny of proposals for share offerings has intensified in the wake of new listing rules, lengthening the waiting time for approvals, sources have said.

The new rules, which were put in place after a regulatory crackdown on offshore listings, became effective on March 31. Fourth Paradigm and one other company got the CSRC greenlight on July 3, adding to two other firms this year. They have yet to go public.

Fourth Paradigm, also known as 4Paradigm, filed its fourth IPO application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in April.

The company was added to the U.S. "Entity List" this year, which means U.S. suppliers are barred from shipping U.S. technology to it unless they can procure a difficult-to-obtain license from the Commerce Department.

Founded in September 2014, Fourth Paradigm's products have been widely used in finance, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, energy and power, telecommunications，healthcare and other sectors, its website said.

Fourth Paradigm counts Goldman Sachs, Sinovation, Haitong International Investment and a number of state-backed funds as investors, the CSRC filing showed.

China International Capital Corp, CCB International, China Merchants Securities and CMB International are coordinators of the IPO, according to the stock exchange filing.

(Reporting by Kane Wu; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)