(Yicai Global) April 1 -- Guandian Defense Technology, a Chinese unmanned aerial vehicles maker, has been given the green light to move to Shanghai’s Nasdaq-like Star Market, becoming the first Beijing Stock Exchange-listed firm to do so since the BSE began trading last November.

All of Guandian Defense’s 237.5 million shares will be moved on Star Market and the opening price of its first trading day in Shanghai has been set to the company’s closing price of CNY21.88 (USD3.45) on its last trading day on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations, China’s over-the-counter market, last October, the Shanghai bourse said in a statement released late yesterday, without disclosing the Beijing-based company’s debut date.

The BSE originated from the NEEQ, also known as New Third Board, and aims to serve innovative small- and medium-sized firms. It has a relatively lower threshold than the other innovative boards Star Market and Shenzhen Stock Exchange’s ChiNext. Companies trading on the Beijing bourse for over one year -- including the time on the New Third Board -- that meet the requirements for listing on Star Market can apply for a bourse transfer.

Guandian Defense’s successful move to Star Market reflected the effective connectivity between China’s multi-layered capital markets, became the new reference for small- and medium-sized firms to achieve high-quality development via the capital market, and helped to further stimulate the market’s vitality, a market insider told Yicai Global.

Guandian Defense submitted the transfer application on Oct. 20 and it took only over five months for the dronemaker to secure the approval, said Zhao Liang, the firm’s sponsor representative. The fact that the review process of the first bourse shift took so little time reflects the advantages of Star Market’s registration-based initial public offering system, noted Zhao, who is also the head of the Growth Enterprise Financing Department of Citic Securities.

But the process of changing bourse is different and more efficient than the IPO one, as the first mainly focuses on the company’s science and technology-related attributes and production and management after the IPO, instead of repeatedly inquiring about the firms’ history and accounting routine, Zhao added.

Founded in 2004, Guardian Defense is primarily engaged in the research and development of drones and smart defensive equipment, which are mainly applied in the anti-drug field. It listed on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations in 2015 and became one of the first companies to land on the BSE last November.

Guandian Defense posted a 27.9 percent leap in revenue to CNY230 million (USD36.2 million) last year from 2020, with net profit up 34.8 percent to CNY72.1 million (USD11.4 million) in the period, meeting the performance-related requirements for listing on Star Market.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione