(Yicai) Aug. 1 — Small businesses and loss-making technology firms are finding it more difficult to get approval to go public on Chinese mainland bourses, especially on the tech-focused startup boards, industry insiders told Yicai Global.
The review process for initial public offerings on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange’s ChiNext board and Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Star Market began to slow in late May and early June, said Tan Gefei, chief consulting expert at a Shenzhen-based investment consultants.
The number of firms that had their ChiNext IPO applications accepted in June plunged 42 percent from a year earlier to 83, Yicai calculated based on SZSE website figures. The Star Market took 43 applications in June, down over 51 percent from the same month last year, according to SSE data. Neither accepted applications last month.
Although unprofitable tech firms have been struggling to list, experts believe they may enjoy more favorable conditions in the future.
“Firms in conventional fields have many ways to raise money, such as bank loans and bonds,” an investment bank executive said. “But tech startups can only solve funding problems by issuing shares on the capital market, so the securities market should lend a helping hand and support their IPOs.”
Companies in conventional consumption areas, including catering, apparel, and property, are also facing a challenge to go public.
“Not many firms under IPO reviews are involved in the catering, clothing, and real estate areas,” Wang Jiyue, a senior investment banker, told Yicai. “Most firms in these areas are not suitable for listings, especially those related to the residential property field, which experienced a significant downturn last year.”
Since the start of June, 40 companies planning to list on China’s main boards have withdrawn their applications, Yicai calculated. Five of them were in the catering, apparel, and property sectors. Yangzhou Jinquan Travelling Goods, a leading contract maker of camping clothes, was the only one among the 166 firms that listed on mainland bourses this year from those three sectors.
Editors: Liao Shumin, Futura Costaglione
