Haier's D-shares start trading in Frankfurt

A logo of China's white goods manufacturer Haier. [Photo/VCG]

China's white goods manufacturer Qingdao Haier went public on Wednesday on China Europe International Exchange's D-Shares Market in Frankfurt, the first Chinese company to do so.

Shares were listed in the Prime Standard, which is part of the EU-regulated market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and were quoted at 1.06 euros at the start of trading.

Chen Han, co-chief executive officer of CEINEX, said the bourse is looking forward to further establishing its platform and grow the D-Share Market with more Chinese blue-chips in the future. The first D-Share IPO and listing by Haier marks the beginning of a new era for Chinese companies on European capital markets.

Companies such as Qingdao Haier – that have a primary listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange – filing for a listing on the CEINEX D-Share Market have to fulfill certain criteria to be accepted to the market, according to the bourse.

Under the initial strategy of the "A plus D-model" those corporations that have shares listed on a Chinese exchange (A-Shares) and are looking for a secondary listing (D-Shares) need to provide proof of no sanctions by the exchange regulator as well as the exchange over the past three years, show no alerts for a delisting and committed no severe violation of information disclosure over the last 12 months prior to the planned listing in Frankfurt.

Deutsche Bank acted as global coordinator for the IPO, with J.P. Morgan, UBS and CICC as joint bookrunners. King & Wood Mallesons acted as legal counsel.