China approves Foxconn Industrial A-share IPO bid

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China’s securities regulator approved iPhone maker Foxconn Industrial Internet Co, a unit of Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, to list in Shanghai with a quick decision finalized on Thursday, Reuters reported on the same day, citing anonymous sources.

China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) scheduled a meeting on Thursday to review Foxconn’s IPO bid but has not published the result by press time.

Foxconn declined to comment when contacted by CGTN and said CSRC announcement on the matter shall prevail.

Headquartered in Shenzhen, southern China’s Guangdong Province, Foxconn is well known for assembling Apple’s iPhones and made sales of around 56 billion US dollars in 2017, accounting for one-third of total revenue of Hon Hai, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer.

It usually takes one or two years for a company to get an IPO bid approval but it cost Foxconn just 36 days since the company submitted its draft prospectus on February 1.

CSRC is reportedly giving “green channel” for the so-called unicorn companies and Foxconn’s fast track on IPO is believed to be a result of such new move.

Xiao Gang, former chief of CSRC, told media on March 2 that facilitating these unicorn companies to go listed is an innovation concerning the approval system reform for issuing new shares.

If Foxconn goes public in A-share market, it would be the first Taiwan listed company’s unit to launch IPO in Chinese mainland, setting a benchmark for others to follow.

Foxconn’s listing in A-share market will help attract local talents and make use of other local resources to bring further development opportunities, Hon Hai said in a statement filed to Taiwan Stock Exchange last December.

Foxconn plans to raise 27.3 billion yuan (4.3 billion US dollars) through the IPO to finance its eight major business sectors, including industrial internet platforms, cloud computing, and construction of an “unmanned” factory where robots would take charge of the whole manufacturing process, according to its prospectus.