One of China’s leading joint-stock banks has obtained the green light from regulators for a joint-venture with the fintech unit of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com.
China Merchants Bank and JD Technology have obtained “unconditional approval” to establish a new joint-venture enterprise, according to an announcement made online by the Anti-Trust Office of the State Administration for Market Regulation on 1 April.
The announcement arrived just before the Shanghai Stock Exchange confirmed that it had terminated its review of JD Technology’s application for an IPO on the STAR Market Board at the company’s own prompting.
JD Technology originally hoped to raise around 20 billion yuan (approx. USD$3 billion) via a listing on the Shanghai bourse, with the company itself valued at 200 billion yuan.
The SSE commenced its review of JD Technology’s IPO application on 11 September 2020, yet the process saw little progress in the six month period subsequently.
Reports first emerged in early March that JD Technology would withdraw its IPO plans due to concerns about pressure from Chinese regulators, particularly in the wake of the cancellation of Ant Group’s proposed listing on the Hong Kong and Shanghai bourses scheduled for November last year.
