Sany Heavy Industry, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of excavators and construction equipment, plans to list its shares on the SIX Swiss Exchange, becoming the first Chinese company to make use of the cross-border channel to raise capital. Sany’s shares will list as global depositary receipts (GDRs) on SIX, the company said in a statement to its primary market the Shanghai Stock Exchange, without divulging financial details or the timing of the listing. The proposed issuance will not dilute the stakes of its controlling shareholders, Sany said. “The global depositary receipt [GDR] is the company’s response to the government’s capital market policy,” said the company, based in the Hunan provincial capital of Changsha. “It represents a significant move on utilising a foreign capital market to enhance development in the real economy.” Founded by Liang Wengen in 1989, Sany is the world’s biggest producer of machines used for mixing and pumping concrete. It also makes forklifts used at ports, tunnelling and mining equipment, with sales and operations in 150 global locations. It bought 90 per cent of the German concrete pump maker Putzmeister in a €324 million (US$355.4 million) takeover in 2012. Sany’s co-founder and chief executive Liang, born in 1956, was China’s wealthiest man in 2011, according to Forbes ’ ranking. The GDR scheme was launched in 2018 as part of the so-called Shanghai-London Stock Connect scheme, a cross-border investment channel that allowed Chinese companies to raise capital in the UK, and let European funds access Chinese stocks. The linkage was an extension of the scheme between Hong Kong, and mainland China’s two major exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen, which kicked off in 2014. The GDR scheme was extended to the SIX Swiss Exchange and Frankfurt Stock Exchange in February. GDRs, which are certificates issued by custodian banks to represent China’s yuan-denominated A-shares, can be traded by foreign investors, but cannot be exchanged for their underlying A-shares due to China’s capital control. Thus far, only four Chinese firms have listed in London via GDRs, raising US$5.8 billion between them, according to data provided by Refinitiv. Huatai Securities listed in 2019, followed by China Pacific Insurance, China Yangtze Power and SDIC Power a year later. “Given the heightened geopolitical tension, the GDR scheme represents Chinese regulators’ attempt to foster stronger financial cooperation with European nations, through an expansion of the stock connect links with more European exchanges and regulators,” said Bruce Pang, head of macro and strategy research at China Renaissance based in Hong Kong. The maximum quota for investors to trade in Chinese GDRs on the three European exchanges, the so-called westbound leg, is 300 billion yuan (US$47.2 billion). The quota for the eastbound leg, for the shares of companies from the UK, Germany and Switzerland on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges, is 250 billion yuan.