Zhongji Innolight’s buy-back plan – worth as much as 8 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) in the run-up to its offshore listing in Hong Kong – may give global investors an anchor for pricing, as the Chinese supplier of US hyperscalers seeks to pre-empt a shaky start to trading in the city. The Chinese maker of optical transceivers used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centres said it would repurchase its Shenzhen-listed shares for between 4 billion and 8 billion yuan, through its own or borrowed funds, it said in an exchange statement on Tuesday night, just two days before Zhongji’s high-profile Hong Kong debut on Thursday. The buy-back came on the heels of a sell-off in Zhongji’s yuan-denominated stock, which was closing in on the offer price of HK$980 for the Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO). “Zhongji’s buy-back plan comes at a sensitive time, namely just ahead of its Hong Kong listing,” said Dai Ming, a fund manager at Huichen Asset Management. “The most plausible reason for doing this is to bolster sentiment before the Hong Kong debut,” he added.