Jan. 23 (NBD) -- Since a group of private delivery enterprises have listed in 2016, companies in the upstream and downstream of the logistics industrial chain started to seek for initial public offering (IPO) in the Chinese market.

While China's leading locker manufacturer Shenzhen Zhilai Sci and Tech Co., Ltd. has gained approval for its IPO, Jiayou International Logistics, China Master Logistics, Hangzhou Tieji Freight and other logistics service providers are still waiting for the good news about their IPO applications.

Photo/VCG

Yang Daqing, contributing researcher of the China Society of Logistics, told NBD in an interview that, the successive completion of the IPO of logistics giants such as SF Express and Yto Express forms the ecological cornerstone and creates the main profit channels for the logistics market. This is expected to drive more companies along the logistics industrial chain to issue IPOs.  

Enterprises in the upstream and downstream of the industry, indeed, are more dynamic in China's capital market than before, an insider said to NBD. 

This is largely led by the fast growth of the whole industry.

However, Zhao Xiaomin, a logistics expert, thought that most of the enterprises in the logistics industry will face huge difficulties in getting listed in the market.

It is noted that the number of approved IPOs is far less than that of IPO applications, and a few IPOs had been rejected. Whether companies along the logistics chain can gain the green light for their IPOs has little to do with the successive listing of delivery companies, said the insider.

But he also committed that the massive investment of delivery titans is somehow a strong driver for the successful IPOs of some upstream or downstream companies. According to him, delivery enterprises are still burning money in the distribution link, polishing the book value of these companies and facilitating their IPO process. 

In Zhao's view, the first half of the year 2017 was the best period for the listing of both delivery companies and enterprises in the upstream and downstream of the sector, because the premier was higher at that time. Now, enterprises will face more difficulties and higher costs to get listed.  

When asked which companies along the logistics chain will have the chance to get listed in the future with the boom of intelligent logistics, Yang Daqing said that intelligent equipment and technology companies in the logistics and supply chain as well as related Internet of Things companies are more likely to gain the favor of the capital market in the new race.

But Zhao pointed out that intelligent logistics is too demanding for companies in terms of the capitalization and technology, thus few companies have a presence in the niche sector.

For most of the companies in the upstream and downstream, being acquired is a better way for them to achieve the goal of getting listed.

Email: zhanglingxiao@nbd.com.cn