Extending an Olive Branch: Can the A-share Market Entice China's Unicorn Companies to Go Public?

Chinese unicorn companies represent a remarkable percentage of all global unicorn companies, with China ranking second only to the United States (US) in terms of the quantity of unicorns originating from a single country or region. Unicorn companies are major economic growth engines that drive the industrialisation of high technologies. As a result, major countries and jurisdictions have exerted considerable efforts to attract unicorn companies to list on their stock exchanges. Restricted by China’s strict listing requirements on its A-share market, many Chinese unicorns have sought to list on overseas exchanges, particularly in the United States. This has led China to recognise that it is lagging behind the US in attracting unicorn companies’ initial public offerings (IPOs), prompting it to explore strategies to attract Chinese and foreign unicorns to trade on its bourses. Although the number of such IPOs has increased in China, different unicorns have varying considerations for listing. Therefore, this study examines whether the recently revised Chinese listing regime and associated regulatory framework for securities can effectively attract more Chinese unicorn companies to list on the A-share market than the stricter regime of the past.