Transsion’s Hong Kong listing plan cleared by CSRC

China’s securities regulator announced on Friday it has formally registered the Hong Kong IPO application from Shenzhen Transsion Holdings Co. Ltd. (688036.SH), clearing a key regulatory hurdle for the cellphone maker’s listing plan. Transsion plans to sell up to 132 million Hong Kong-listed H-shares in the offering, according to the notice on the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) website.

Transsion is already listed in Shenzhen. Its plan to raise money in Hong Kong makes it the latest in a recent wave of companies listed on China’s domestic markets in Shenzhen and Shanghai to seek second listings targeting Hong Kong’s more international investor pool.

The company is Africa’s leading cellphone maker by unit sales with 61.5% of the market in 2024, according to its latest prospectus filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in June. But it was only the continent’s second-largest cellphone maker in terms of revenue, with a far lower 22.5% of the market, reflecting its focus on low-cost models.

The company’s revenue fell 4.5% to 65.6 billion yuan ($9.73 billion) last year from 68.7 billion yuan in 2024, as it faced growing competition from other Chinese brands. Its profit for last year fell by more than half to 2.61 billion yuan from 5.6 billion yuan in 2024.

By Doug Young

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