Firms line up for new board listing

More than 100 companies had applied to be listed on China's new science and technology innovation board by Wednesday.

The board, announced in November by President Xi Jinping, is expected to start trading in the middle of the year.

The companies, ranging from software and information services to computers, communications and biomedicine industries, plan to raise a total of 98.4 billion yuan (US$14.5 billion). The top three regions for applicants are Beijing with 22 firms, Shanghai with 18 and Guangdong Province with 15, according to the Shanghai Stock Exchange website.

The companies have to go through audit and inquiry stages before they can be listed.

The board represents a new era of the Chinese capital market as it’s a registration-based IPO system. It welcomes unprofitable and startup firms to the domestic capital market, analysts said.

Chinese investors are racing to buy mutual funds linked to the new technology board in the expectation that these funds will have privileged access to upcoming initial public offerings, potentially enjoying handsome returns upon public trading, according to media reports.