The Shanghai Stock Exchange’s highly-anticipated new high-tech board will come with some new benefits for existing shareholders of companies set to be listed, as the bourse unveiled the first batch of Initial Public Offerings.
The nonpublic transfer model for the Nasdaq-style board will shorten the lockup period, after which eligible shareholders can sell shares over the counter to institutional investors.
Existing rules allow venture capital firms to sell upwards of 2% of total shares only after holding them for 48 months before an IPO application is accepted.
The new rules will shorten the lockup period and give investors more flexibility to exit investments, a senior Shanghai Stock Exchange official said, according to Caixin.
The high-tech board was announced by Xi Jinping in November of last year and allows companies to apply for listing through a filing process different from the current practice of bidding for approval from the securities regulator.
With the changes, companies that have yet to turn a profit can now register. According to Technode, only one of the nine firms announced on Friday meets that description.
China’s securities regulator said that the new board will focus on strategically emerging sectors including IT, advanced equipment, new materials and energy, and biomedicine, Xinhua reported.