Chinese AI large language model developer MiniMax, founded only four years ago, raised HKD4.82 billion (USD620 million) in its Hong Kong IPO on 9 January, marking the largest IPO to date by an AI LLM company. Davis Polk, Jingtian & Gongcheng, Hogan Lovells, ZwillGen, Shook Lin & Bok, Maples Group, Freshfields and Commerce & Finance Law Offices provided legal support.
The company issued 29.2 million shares at HKD165 per share. On debut, MiniMax opened at HKD235.40, representing a 42.7% premium to the issue price and pushing the company’s market capitalisation to more than HKD90 billion.
The listing drew a strong market response, with around 420,000 investors participating and an oversubscription rate of 1,837 times, making it the second IPO among recent listings to exceed 400,000 retail subscribers.
Davis Polk acted as the issuer’s Hong Kong and US legal counsel. Partners He Li and Jason Xu led the team, supported by counsel Kevin Zhang and Wendy Kan, international legal counsel Nie Yuqi and Chen Chaoran and PRC legal counsel Li Hongzhu.
Jingtian & Gongcheng advised MiniMax on PRC law, led by partner Ling Tezhi, with partners Xie Jing and Hu Xingjie participating, as well as partner Zhou Yang providing data compliance advice.
Hogan Lovells advised the company on international sanctions matters. ZwillGen and Shook Lin & Bok offered US and Singapore legal advice, respectively, including on data compliance. Maples Group partner Karen Zhang Pallaras counselled on Cayman Islands law.
Freshfields advised joint sponsors CICC and UBS, and other underwriters on Hong Kong and US law, while Commerce & Finance Law Offices acted as their PRC counsel.
MiniMax was founded in 2022, focusing on developing general-purpose AI technology through multi-modal integration across text, speech and vision. Following the listing of Knowledge Atlas (also known as Zhipu) on 8 January, MiniMax became the second among a cohort of domestic AI unicorns known in China as the “AI Six Tigers” to list in Hong Kong.
Before its IPO, MiniMax had completed seven funding rounds and raised more than USD1.5 billion from investors including Alibaba, miHoYo, Tencent and Hillhouse Capital.
The prospectus states that the proceeds from the IPO will primarily be used to fund R&D for its foundation models and AI-native products.
