(Yicai Global) July 28 -- The first group of Chinese firms, including battery giants GEM, Gotion High-tech, and Shanshan, has gotten listed on the Six Swiss Exchange to increase their financing channels.

The four companies, including Keda Industrial Group which makes building materials, issued global depositary receipts on the Zurich-based bourse today. They are expected to raise between USD173 million and USD685 million each.

The major bourse in Europe has established a department to be in charge of listings and transactions regarding GDRs to help Chinese companies enhance their liquidity, Securities Daily reported. For the first four firms, the depositary bank is Citibank.

The moves come after a rule change. In February, China Securities Regulatory Commission said it will seek to expand and optimize interconnectivity mechanisms regarding domestic and overseas capital markets. Before that, the securities watchdog revised stock connect rules to expand the Shanghai-London Stock Connect scheme to cover eligible companies listed in Shenzhen, Switzerland, and Germany.

The relaxed rules have prompted several Chinese companies to widen their horizons. And the results have been quick. It only took from two to three months for the four firms to go from GDR issuance schemes to listings.

The idea is to have two-way traffic. Some European countries, which have realistic demand for positioning in the Chinese market, are quite interested in the Chinese depositary receipt mechanism, Securities Daily reported, citing Xu Kezhen, the executive in charge of Citibank’s depositary receipt business in China.

With the constant expansion and optimization of interconnectivity, Chinese bourses will definitely attract high-quality overseas firms to get listed in China in order to achieve two-way flows, Xu added.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi