Robotics firm gears for US$500m IPO

Horizon Robotics, a Chinese provider of autonomous driving computing solutions, has picked banks to help arrange its Hong Kong initial public offering this year that may raise about US$500 million (HK$3.9 billion), according to people familiar with the situation.

The Intel-backed firm is working with China Securities International, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on the first-time share sale, the people said. The company may file its preliminary prospectus in the coming weeks, said one of the people.

Backed by investors, including Hillhouse Capital and electric-vehicle maker BYD (1211), Horizon makes chips and software for autonomous vehicles and machines such as smart speakers.

The company counts Volkswagen's Audi, SAIC Motor and SK Telecom among its partners, according to its website.

Meanwhile, China is studying to further lower down payment ratio for passenger vehicle loans, said Li Yunze, director of the National Financial Regulatory Administration.

Now the maximum mortgage loans available for new EVs for self-use in the mainland is 85 percent, and the cap for second-hand vehicles is 70 percent.

It comes as the EV sales in the mainland have slowed to 29.4 percent yearly in the first two months of the year, down from 37.9 percent last year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. The total sales of all vehicles inched up 11.1 percent yearly in January and February.