Economic Watch: IPO reform on ChiNext board invigorates China's capital market-Xinhua

Economic Watch: IPO reform on ChiNext board invigorates China's capital market

Source: Xinhua

Editor: huaxia

2022-08-24 17:40:30

BEIJING, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- China's registration-based initial public offering (IPO) system has brought a new dynamic to the capital market since it was expanded to the Shenzhen-based ChiNext board two years ago.

A total of 355 companies listed under the registration-based IPO system had debuted on the ChiNext board by Aug. 23, 2022, accounting for 30 percent of the total number of ChiNext firms.

The total market value of these companies exceeds 2.6 trillion yuan (about 380.2 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for 21 percent of the board.

"Over the past two years, the ChiNext board has boosted direct investment through market-based reform, and formed a cluster of high-quality enterprises with sound development momentum," said Tian Lihui, a finance professor at Nankai University.

Data shows that among the newly listed companies, nearly 90 percent are from high-tech sectors, and approximately 60 percent are linked to strategic emerging industries.

The average research and development expenditure of these companies soared by 42.26 percent in 2021, data shows.

Over the past two years, the registration-based IPO reform has buttressed innovation and played an improved role in supporting the real economy, according to Jiang Yu, president of Huatai United Securities.

As many as 16 of the top 20 newly listed enterprises under the registration-based IPO system, by market value, are high-tech companies, according to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

"Since the country's registration-based IPO reform, the ChiNext board has set more diversified and inclusive listing conditions for enterprises, offering cash-strained companies easier access to the capital market for rapid development," Jiang said.

The delisting system has also seen improvement over the past two years, as more measures have been rolled out to optimize delisting standards and streamline the process.

"The optimized delisting system helps improve the overall quality of listed firms while attracting more companies to list on the board," Jiang noted.

Data shows that eight companies have been delisted from the ChiNext board in accordance with laws and regulations so far this year.

As of Tuesday, the number of companies listed on the ChiNext board is 1,175, with their total market value exceeding 12 trillion yuan. The average daily turnover of the board has increased over 90 percent from two years ago.

Since the reform, the ChiNext board has seen an increasing number of professional institutional investors focusing on value investing and long-term investment, said Wang Zhijian, assistant to the president of China Merchants Securities.

"The improving structure of investors on the ChiNext board will curb market speculation to some extent," Wang added.