China’s first intellectual property rights securitization scheme on November 4 made its market debut on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange through an IPO. The scheme was co-founded by Xili Lake International Science and Education City and Shenzhen High-tech Investment Group Co., Ltd. (SZHTI Group) to finance the commercialization of intellectual property rights owned by 10 companies affiliated with institutes of higher learning based in Nanshan district, Shenzhen city.

The foundational 15 intellectual property assets of the scheme comprise 8 patents for inventions, 3 patents for utility models, and 4 patents for software copyrights owned by the 10 companies. The scheme intends to raise 20 million yuan ($3.13 million) in gross proceeds from the IPO. The business of the 10 companies under the scheme range from semiconductors, new materials, industrial robots, to clean energy and cloud services. With the scheme listed, they will be entitled to a yearly financing cost 2.98%.

The IPO issuer is the microcredit unit of SZHTI Group. The scheme’s manager is Ping An Securities, and the custodian bank China Merchants Bank.

SZHTI Group was established in 1994 by the Shenzhen Municipal Government as a professional financial service organization to solve the financing difficulties of small and medium-sized technology companies.

In the recent two years, SZHTI Group has issued 20 securities valued at 4.6 billion yuan ($720 million) for 320 Shenzhen-based technology companies.