On May 20, the Shanghai Stock Exchange officially issued and implemented the guidelines for the application of the review rules for the issuance and listing of corporate bonds of Shanghai Stock Exchange No. 4 – scientific and technological innovation corporate bonds (hereinafter referred to as the guidelines for scientific and technological innovation bonds), marking the official landing of the varieties of scientific and technological innovation corporate bonds.
Since the CSRC issued a document “promoting the improvement of the bond financing support mechanism of private enterprises and enhancing the quality and efficiency of serving the development of private economy” in March this year, and made it clear that it plans to launch scientific and technological innovation corporate bonds, the discussion heat of the market on scientific and technological innovation corporate bonds has been high and the expectations have been full. The guidance on science and technology innovation bonds is another powerful measure for the bond market of Shanghai Stock Exchange to give full play to the functions of serving the national innovation driven development strategy and industrial transformation and upgrading. It can see the determination of the bond market of Shanghai Stock Exchange to support scientific and technological innovation.
pilot turns to normal to open Kechuang bond 2.0
The Shanghai Stock Exchange has always attached great importance to scientific and technological innovation and has actively carried out the pilot of mass entrepreneurship and innovation bonds since 2017. However, due to the overall low risk preference of investors in China’s bond market and the imperfect credit risk sharing mechanism, mass entrepreneurship and innovation bonds have not formed a scale effect. Since 2021, the Shanghai Stock Exchange has guided high-quality enterprises to issue corporate bonds for scientific and innovative purposes under the framework of mass entrepreneurship and innovation bonds, and many bonds raised funds to invest in cutting-edge scientific and innovative fields such as integrated circuits and artificial intelligence have been successfully issued, which has played a good demonstration effect.
Since this year, a number of leading enterprises have concentrated on issuing corporate bonds for scientific and technological innovation to help the field of scientific and technological innovation. On March 16, Guangdong Hengjian invested and issued 2.2 billion Kechuang bonds to invest in the 8th.6th generation oxide semiconductor new display device production line project to help the development of the national semiconductor display industry; On March 18, Shanghai Lianhe invested and issued 1 billion yuan of science and innovation bonds to invest in the fields of integrated circuits, satellite industry and high-end digital equipment; On March 24, SDIC issued Kechuang bonds to replace the capital increase of Inspur Group, a “neck” enterprise; On April 18, China Chengtong issued 3.5 billion Kechuang bonds to invest in high-tech industries and strategic emerging industries such as information technology, Internet, big data and artificial intelligence; On April 26, Shenzhen Venture capital issued 1 billion yuan of science and technology innovation bonds, which were used in the field of start-up scientific and technological innovation, and were sought after by the market.
Market participants generally believe that the issuance of early-stage sci-tech innovation bonds has accumulated rich practical experience. At this stage, the time is ripe to launch sci-tech innovation corporate bonds, which can activate the precise support and direct capital of the bond market in the field of sci-tech innovation.
accurately support industrial enterprise financing
Scientific and technological innovation corporate bonds include not only the bonds issued by relevant enterprises in the field of scientific and technological innovation, but also the corporate bonds whose funds are mainly used to support the development of scientific and technological innovation. Compared with the equity financing of science and innovation board, it further expands the applicable boundary.
From the perspective of the clear institutional arrangements in the guidelines for scientific and technological innovation bonds, the Shanghai Stock Exchange has made unprecedented efforts to support scientific and technological innovation corporate bonds, and introduced a number of hard core measures targeted at the actual financing problems of industrial enterprises: first, it supports the scope of multiple types of entities, and supports four types of issuers: scientific and technological innovation enterprises, scientific and technological innovation upgrading, scientific and technological innovation investment and scientific and technological innovation incubation, which not only conforms to the laws of scientific and technological innovation, but also fully benefits small and medium-sized scientific and technological innovation entities, It also includes large mature enterprises in urgent need of industrial upgrading, and supports investment and incubation “seeding” enterprises.
Second, the support method is flexible. It can be invested in the field of science and innovation through R & D investment, project construction, M & A, operation, equity investment, construction of R & D platform and new R & D institutions, so as to support the financing of core science and innovation enterprises to feed the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, and can also be used to replace the investment within 12 months. It is understood that the scientific and technological innovation corporate bond is the only bond that can replace the investment within 12 months, It greatly improves the flexibility of the use of raised funds.
The third is to provide a number of supporting arrangements, including optimizing arrangements such as unified declaration and early declaration for high-quality and mature scientific and technological innovation issuers, encouraging issuers to innovate the terms of issuance and the purpose of raised funds, and relaxing the financial reporting period for non-public issuance of scientific and technological innovation corporate bonds, such as key core technology research and special functional enterprises of national major scientific and technological projects.
science and technology leads industrial transformation and traditional industries usher in good
It is noteworthy that in addition to focusing on supporting the subdivision of high-tech industries and strategic emerging industries, scientific and technological innovation corporate bonds also clearly support the development of scientific and technological innovation in the field of industrial transformation and upgrading. Enterprises in traditional industries can issue scientific and technological innovation corporate bonds to promote the upgrading of the existing industrial structure, enhance innovation ability, competitiveness and comprehensive strength, and promote the industrialization and large-scale application of new technologies.
The person in charge of an iron and steel enterprise in Jiangsu said that the enterprise is actively carrying out technological transformation and equipment renewal. However, with the rise of factor costs, the increase of pressure on resources and environment and the double squeeze of industrialization in late developing countries and Reindustrialization in developed countries, the capital pressure faced in the process of transformation and upgrading is large. The scientific and technological innovation corporate bonds have solved this problem, and the enterprise is preparing to promote the issuance.
Market analysts believe that traditional manufacturing enterprises have a large demand for transformation and financing, and scientific and technological innovation corporate bonds have attracted “fresh water” for them. It is expected that the role of the subsequent exchange bond market in supporting industrial transformation and upgrading will become increasingly prominent.
help private enterprises climb the peak of science and technology, and the new momentum of science and innovation bonds is surging
Recently, the CSRC and the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges have continued to make efforts to support the financing of private enterprises and strive to improve the financing environment of private enterprises. The CSRC made it clear that priority should be given to supporting private enterprises in high-tech and strategic emerging industries to raise funds by issuing bonds.
At present, private enterprises are not only the main force of innovation and development, but also an important carrier for gathering elements of scientific and technological innovation. However, most private enterprises dare not try the field of scientific and technological innovation due to the problems of difficult and expensive financing. Unblocking the financing channels of private enterprises in the field of scientific and technological innovation can enable private enterprises to eat “reassurance”, climb the peak of science and technology and seek development at ease, It can be expected that technological innovation corporate bonds can inject strong impetus into maintaining the good momentum of private economic development.
On the one hand, focusing on private enterprise bonds in the field of scientific and technological innovation means that the issuer has the ability of scientific and technological innovation or core technology and has good development prospects, which improves the recognition of investors and expands the group of investors. For example, last year, Xiaomi Communication Technology Co., Ltd. issued short-term corporate bonds for scientific and innovative purposes on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, with a coupon rate of 2.9%, which was sought after by the market, greatly facilitating the financing of scientific and technological research and development of enterprises. On the other hand, high-quality state-owned production and investment enterprises can also invest in private enterprises with greater difficulty in issuing bonds by issuing scientific and technological innovation corporate bonds, so as to help the final flow of funds to private enterprises.
Industry insiders said that many private entrepreneurs are more excited. They believe that the support of scientific and technological innovation corporate bonds can provide a strong backing for them to inherit and carry forward the spirit of the older generation to dare to venture, focus on industry and refine their main business. Driven by this, China’s private economy can make new breakthroughs and move towards a broader stage.
Scientific and technological innovation begins with technology and becomes capital. The capital market shoulders an important responsibility in supporting the development of scientific and technological innovation. The launch of scientific and technological innovation bonds can further strengthen the linkage and synergy between scientific and technological innovation and the bond market. The Shanghai Stock Exchange said that in the next step, under the unified leadership of the CSRC, it will further optimize various measures of market service, guide qualified issuers, especially high-quality private enterprises, the main force of China’s innovation and development, to issue bonds and finance, fully stimulate the enthusiasm of market participants, and promote direct bond financing to play a more proactive role in supporting the national science and technology innovation strategy. At the same time, through strong support for the transformation and upgrading financing of industrial entities, we will further promote the improvement and expansion of the bond market of Shanghai Stock Exchange, and promote the high-quality development of the bond market.
