Shenzhen Stock Exchange Rolls Out the Red Carpet: Groundbreaking “H+A” Dual Listing Policy Unlocks Opportunities for Hong Kong’s Red Chip Giants

Get ready for a seismic shift in China’s capital markets, as fresh H+A dual listing opportunities are igniting excitement across the tech and investment scene.

This is big news for investors, founders, and anyone tracking the dynamism of Chinese tech.

🚀 Game Changer Alert: Shenzhen Welcomes Hong Kong-Listed Guangdong Titans!

Mark your calendars, because June 10, 2025, just became a pivotal date for China’s financial landscape.

The top offices in Beijing dropped some major news: the “Opinions on Deepening Comprehensive Reform Pilot in Shenzhen, Deepening Reform, Innovation, and Expanding Opening Up.”

Catchy title, right? We’ll just call them the “Opinions.”

The big takeaway? Companies from the bustling Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Yue Gang Ao Da Wan Qu 粤港澳大湾区) already listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (Xianggang Lianhe Jiaoyisuo 香港联合交易所) can now also list on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE, Shenzhen Zhengquan Jiaoyisuo 深圳证券交易所), provided they play by the rules.

This is a huge deal, folks. We’re talking about a potential wave of “H+A” dual listings hitting the Shenzhen market – a major development for accessing mainland capital.

Flipping the Script: Why “H+A” is a Big Deal Compared to “A+H”

For a while now, the go-to move for Chinese companies expanding their horizons has been the “A+H” model.

That means companies already trading on mainland China’s A-share markets would pursue a secondary listing in Hong Kong.

Think of it as hedging bets and tapping into different investor pools, often with an eye on managing listing costs.

But this new policy? It’s paving the way for traffic in the other direction – from Hong Kong to Shenzhen.

This shift signifies a growing confidence in mainland exchanges and provides a new avenue for Hong Kong-listed firms to connect with A-share investors.

The Red Chip Riddle: A Quick Explainer on Offshore Structures

Now, let’s talk about Red Chip Structures (Hongchou Jiagou 红筹架构) – this is where things get particularly interesting for many well-known Chinese tech firms.

Many Chinese tech giants listed in Hong Kong aren’t actually registered in mainland China for their listing entity; they’re registered offshore (think Cayman Islands, BVI).

Historically, if these Red Chip champs wanted to “return to A-shares” (list on a mainland exchange), it was a whole saga:

• First, they’d often have to delist from Hong Kong through a pricey privatization process.
• Then, re-apply for an A-share listing from scratch.
• Or, they might spin off mainland subsidiaries for separate A-share listings.

Talk about a detour! This made accessing mainland markets cumbersome and expensive.

Things started to shift in 2019 with the launch of Shanghai’s SSE STAR Market (Kechuangban 科创板) and new registration-based reforms.

This opened a crack in the door for Red Chip companies to do secondary listings on A-shares without the full delisting drama.

But, let’s be real, it hasn’t exactly been a floodgate. The number of success stories is still pretty small.

Plus, most of these Red Chip secondary listings, like China Mobile (Zhongguo Yidong 中国移动) and SMIC (Zhongxin Guoji 中芯国际), landed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), not Shenzhen.

This is why the new policy specifically targeting the Shenzhen Stock Exchange for these H-share companies, especially Red Chips, is such a headline-grabber.

The Pros and Cons of Dual Listing: An Expert Weighs In

Cao Gang (Cao Gang 曹刚), a Partner at Zehao Capital (Zehao Ziben 泽浩资本), breaks down the calculus for these companies:

• Dual listing costs? “Relatively high.” No surprise there; accessing more markets comes with a price tag.
• A-share standards? “More stringent,” especially if you’re rocking a Red Chip Structure. Mainland China’s regulatory environment has its unique aspects.
• The upside of A-shares? “Higher valuations” and “stronger liquidity” compared to Hong Kong. This is a major draw, potentially unlocking significant shareholder value. Ka-ching!
• The catch with A-shares? “Financing requires approval,” making it “less convenient than in Hong Kong,” where capital raising can often be more flexible.

It’s a classic trade-off scenario: better valuations and liquidity versus higher costs and more regulatory hurdles.

The buzz among industry insiders is palpable.

They’re betting that these “Opinions” will encourage a wave of Hong Kong-listed GBA companies to go for “H+A” dual listings.

And the Shenzhen Stock Exchange? It’s tipped to finally see that long-awaited “breakthrough” for Red Chip secondary listings. Exciting times for the SZS_E_ and GBA tech!

Decoding Dual Listing Structures: Red Chips vs. H-Shares in the GBA

When companies from the Greater Bay Area list in Hong Kong, they generally pick one of two main routes for their corporate structure relative to their mainland operations:

• Red Chip Structure (Hongchou Jiagou 红筹架构): This is where the company sets up an offshore entity (often in jurisdictions like the Cayman Islands or BVI) as the main listing vehicle. Their mainland China operations are then consolidated into this offshore entity’s financials, often through Variable Interest Entities (VIEs). It’s a popular way to tap international capital while navigating mainland regulations.
• H-Share Structure (H Gu Jiagou H股架构): This is more straightforward. The company registered in mainland China directly issues shares and lists them overseas (in Hong Kong, in this case). These are shares of a mainland-incorporated company traded in Hong Kong.

Historically, getting these listings done had different timelines, even before recent adjustments to offshore listing filing regulations:

• H-share projects often required a nod from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). The whole process? Anywhere from 9 months to 2 years. Patience is a virtue!
• Red Chip projects, due to their offshore nature, could sometimes sprint to the finish line in as little as 7 months for their Hong Kong IPO.

(Note: New offshore listing filing regulations have since come into play, which might tweak these timelines and processes for new IPOs).

For H-share companies, achieving an “H+A” dual listing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange has been a bit more established, and we’ve already seen it happen.

Take CIMC Vehicles (Zhongji Cheliang 中集车辆) for example.

They did the “H first, then A” dance:

• Listed in Hong Kong: July 11, 2019.
• Landed on Shenzhen’s ChiNext (Chuangyeban 创业板) board: July 8, 2021.

But here’s the kicker for Red Chip companies doing secondary listings on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange?

Zero. Zilch. Nada. (At least prior to this new policy guidance creating a clearer path).

This is precisely why the new policy feels like such a watershed moment. It specifically opens the door for these numerous, often high-profile, Red Chip companies.

Let’s look at the sheer scale we’re talking about here in the Greater Bay Area.

Right now, there are 256 Guangdong-based enterprises listed in Hong Kong.

Their combined market value? A whopping ¥12.31 trillion RMB (that’s roughly $1.76 trillion USD!).

Out of these, only 50 are true H-share types (listed with mainland entities as the primary registrant for HK listing).

The vast majority? You guessed it – they’ve opted for the Red Chip Structure.

And the titan among them? Tencent Holdings (Tengxun Konggu 腾讯控股), flexing a market cap over ¥4.72 trillion RMB (around $0.67 trillion USD) all by itself.

Navigating the Rules: What Red Chips Need for a Shenzhen Listing

So, what’s the catch? The “Opinions” make it clear: GBA companies listed in Hong Kong need to list on the SZSE “in accordance with policy regulations.”

This isn’t a free-for-all. Red Chip enterprises still need to jump through the necessary regulatory hoops, on top of general listing standards.

The good news? The rulebook for Red Chip secondary listings isn’t being written from scratch for Shenzhen. The framework has been evolving.

The groundwork has been laid over the years through various CSRC announcements:

• March 2018: The CSRC’s “Pilot Opinions” greenlit innovative Red Chip enterprises to issue stocks or depositary receipts on domestic markets, laying initial groundwork.
• April 2020: The CSRC clarified arrangements for these innovative pilot Red Chips to list domestically. The ChiNext (Chuangyeban 创业板) board’s reform also made provisions for Red Chips, primarily unlisted ones at the time.
• September 2021: The pilot program for domestic listings of Red Chips expanded its industry scope from 7 to 14. Plus, a key clause: Red Chips of “significant national strategic importance” aren’t boxed in by industry restrictions. Think big tech, key innovators.

Spotlight on ChiNext: Requirements for Unlisted Red Chip Enterprises

It’s important to distinguish: current ChiNext rules for Red Chips primarily target those “Red Chip enterprises not yet listed overseas.”

If such a company were aiming for a primary listing on ChiNext, here’s a simplified look at the criteria:

• Path 1:
  • Rapid revenue growth.
  • Independent R&D and internationally leading technology.
  • Competitive industry advantage.
  • Expected market value: Not less than ¥10 billion RMB ($~1.43 billion USD).
• Path 2:
  • Rapid revenue growth.
  • Independent R&D and internationally leading technology.
  • Competitive industry advantage.
  • Expected market value: Not less than ¥5 billion RMB ($~0.71 billion USD).
  • AND, operating revenue in the most recent year: Not less than ¥500 million RMB ($~71.4 million USD).

The “rapid growth” part often involves specific compound annual growth rate (CAGR) benchmarks (e.g., over 10% or 20% depending on revenue scale, or outperforming industry peers).

Crunching the numbers for existing Hong Kong-listed Red Chips in Guangdong, if they were to pursue a ChiNext listing *after delisting from Hong Kong and applying as an unlisted entity* (which is different from a secondary listing):

• 23 companies currently have a market value over ¥10 billion RMB ($~1.43 billion USD).
• 7 companies are in the ¥5-10 billion RMB ($~0.71-1.43 billion USD) market cap range AND pulled in over ¥500 million RMB ($~71.4 million USD) in revenue in 2024.

Important Note: Under these specific ChiNext rules designed for unlisted Red Chips, already HK-listed companies would typically need to delist from Hong Kong first. This highlights why the newly emphasized secondary listing route on the Shenzhen Main Board is so attractive – it avoids that delisting step.

The Main Event: Shenzhen Main Board Rules for Red Chip Secondary Listings

Okay, this is the core of the new opportunity for already Hong Kong-listed Red Chips thanks to the recent “Opinions.”

The Shenzhen Main Board (Shen Shi Zhuban 深市主板) has specific criteria for them to snag a secondary listing:

• Option 1: The Behemoth Clause
  • Market value: Not less than ¥200 billion RMB ($~28.6 billion USD). That’s serious territory, reserved for the giants.
• Option 2: The Innovation Powerhouse Clause
  • Market value: Exceeding ¥20 billion RMB ($~2.86 billion USD).
  • AND, possess independent R&D, internationally leading technology, strong tech innovation capabilities, and a competitive edge. This sounds like a lot of GBA tech firms!

Who’s in the Running? Potential Candidates for SZSE Main Board Secondary Listing

So, which GBA Red Chips listed in Hong Kong could potentially make the jump to the Shenzhen Main Board based on these secondary listing rules?

The field of eligible companies is exciting:

• Meeting the ¥200 billion RMB ($~28.6 billion USD) market cap threshold:
  • Tencent Holdings (Tengxun Konggu 腾讯控股) – No surprise here! The tech behemoth is a prime candidate.
  • Tencent Music (Tengxun Yinyue 腾讯音乐) – Also a major player with significant market value.
• Meeting the ¥20 billion RMB ($~2.86 billion USD) + innovation criteria:
  • A cool 17 enterprises fit this bill!
  • Some notable examples likely in this group include:
    • XPeng (Xiaopeng Qiche 小鹏汽车)-W (EVs are definitely innovative and strategically important)
    • Smoore International (Simoer Guoji 思摩尔国际) (a leader in vaping technology and manufacturing)
    • BYD Electronic (Biyadi Dianzi 比亚迪电子) (a key electronics manufacturing and assembly solutions provider)
    • Kingdee International (Jindie Guoji 金蝶国际) (a significant name in enterprise software and cloud services)

This opens up a fascinating new chapter for these companies, potentially boosting their valuations, increasing liquidity by tapping into the A-share market, and widening their access to mainland Chinese investors.

The Future is Dual-Listed: A New Era for SZSE and Red Chip Titans

This policy isn’t just a regulatory tweak; it’s a strategic move to deepen financial integration within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and supercharge the Shenzhen Stock Exchange as a hub for innovative companies.

For investors, this means new opportunities to invest in leading Red Chip enterprises through the mainland market. For founders and tech companies, it offers another powerful avenue for capital raising and market presence.

Keep an eye on this space – the “H+A” wave could bring some of China’s biggest and most innovative Red Chip names to the Shenzhen spotlight, creating fresh and compelling Shenzhen Stock Exchange Red Chip listing narratives in the months and years to come.

• H+A: Hong Kong-listed company seeks a listing on mainland China (like Shenzhen). Newly emphasized route for GBA Red Chips.
• A+H: Mainland China A-share listed company seeks a secondary listing in Hong Kong. Traditional route.

• Costs: Relatively high
• A-share Standards: More stringent (especially for Red Chips)
• A-share Upside: Higher valuations, stronger liquidity
• A-share Catch: Financing requires approval (less convenient than Hong Kong)

*Timelines subject to change with new offshore listing filing regulations.

References

• Official Website – 21st Century Business Herald
• About SZSE – Shenzhen Stock Exchange
• About Us – Hong Kong Stock Exchange