Chinese delivery giant SF Express went public Friday on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange through a reverse merger with the listed company Dingtai.

Dingtai, which announced a name change to S.F. Holding effective Friday, started trading at 53.50 yuan (7.78 US dollars) per share.

Shares of S.F. Holding climbed by the 10-percent daily limit to 55.21 yuan at closing, with market value over 230 billion yuan (33.43 billion US dollars).

SF Express, founded in 1993 in Guangdong Province, is one of the largest private express logistics firms in China.

The company said its 2016 annual revenue hit nearly 57.48 billion yuan (8.35 billion US dollars), with 3.69 billion yuan (536.34 million US dollars) in operating profits.

"The company's development, management, services and profitability rank high in China's logistics industry," said Gao Hongfeng, director of China's Express Association.

China's courier services have grown steadily along with booming e-commerce development.

The total number of packages delivered increased 51.4 percent year on year in 2016 to more than 31 billion. Total industry revenue hit nearly 400 billion yuan (58.14 billion US dollars), marking year-on-year growth of 43.5 percent, according to the State Post Bureau of China.

All of China's top five courier services -- STO Express, YTO Express, ZTO Express, Shanghai Yunda Express, and SF Express -- are now listed on stock markets.

Email: zengyunheng@nbd.com.cn