Haier to head for D-share listing in Germany

Chinese white goods manufacturer Haier is expected to be among the first Chinese companies issuing D shares, while listing in Frankfurt, according to a report by Reuters on Thursday.

As a response, Qingdao Haier Co Ltd, the listed arm of Haier Group Corp, announced Friday the company is studying the feasibility of issuing D shares, did not hire any professional institute to deal with the issuance and there is no internal decision about it.

D-Shares refer to shares issued by companies limited by shares incorporated in Chinese mainland and listed in Germany. They include IPO of prominent Chinese companies, capital increase of Chinese blue chip, and A-Share companies additionally issuing D-Shares as well.

The issuance is subject to the approval of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the company's prospectus shall be approved by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority.

The size of Haier's share offering has not been clear yet, but Reuters citing sources said it would be about 1 billion euros.

Reuters said that the Haier listing would kick off the D-share project on the China Europe International Exchange AG (CEINEX), which is jointly set up by Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), Deutsche Börse (DBAG) and China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFEX).

Launched on Nov 18, 2015, CEINEX market is operated based on DBAG infrastructure and within EU regulation.

In 2017, Haier raked in 241.9 billion yuan in its global revenues, up 20 percent year-on-year, and its profit surged 41 percent, Li Hua, vice-president of the Qingdao-based company, told Xinhua.

Earnings from foreign market accounted for about 40 percent of last year's total revenue and could grow to over 50 percent this year, according to Li.

Haier has bought US counterpart GE Appliances, Japan's Sanyo and New Zealand's Fisher & Paykel in the past few years to upgrade its overall industrial chain.

Haier has 54 overseas factories and nine foreign R&D centers, offering about 20 million products each year.