SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Sany Heavy Industry Co, China’s biggest maker of engineering machinery, published a set of revised internal rules on Saturday in preparation for a Frankfurt listing – potentially the first there under a mechanism for cross-border listings and investment.
China last year expanded the Shanghai-London Stock Connect to include Switzerland and Germany, since when more than a score of Chinese companies have listed, or unveiled plans to list, on the Swiss stock exchange. Sany is the first China-listed company to pick Frankfurt under the scheme.
Sany, which describes itself as the world’s third-largest engineering machinery manufacturer, has now revised its shareholder and board discussion rules, as well as articles of incorporation, to meet regulatory requirements as it prepares to issue Global Depositary Receipts (GDR) in Germany.
The company also published confidentiality and archive administration rules to meet China’s national security requirements on offshore listings.
Sany has not disclosed fundraising targets, or when a Frankfurt listing will happen, only saying in late December that it planned to sell GDRs equivalent to 5% of its share base to fund international expansion.
The company, which scrapped an earlier plan for a Swiss listing, has said it is attracted to Frankfurt because Germany’s world-class manufacturing capability is a match to Sany’s ambition in intelligent manufacturing.
Also aiding the decision was Sany’s foothold in Germany, where it acquired Putzmeister Holding GmbH in 2012, and has set up its largest offshore R&D and manufacturing base. Germany is also one of Sany’s biggest international markets.
(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Brenda Goh; Editing by David Holmes)
