CHINA is set to see the first dual-class listing in the domestic market, as the nation aims to stem an exodus of technology firms seeking listings overseas.

Chinese cloud storage provider UCloud Technology last Friday obtained approval from the Shanghai Stock Exchange for an initial public offering (IPO) on the STAR Market, according to an exchange filing.

It is the first company with unequal voting rights to get approval from a mainland stock exchange for such listing.

According to the filing, three of UCloud’s shareholders currently own a combined 98 million A-class shares of the company, or about 27 percent of the firm’s total issued shares. These three represent a combined voting rights of 65 percent. The company aims to raise about 4.7 billion yuan (US$660 million) via the IPO, according to a separate exchange filing.

The approval came hours before foreign media reported that the Trump administration is considering various measures to limit U.S. investors’ exposure to Chinese assets, including possible delisting of Chinese firms from U.S. exchanges.

Although a U.S. Treasury official said there are no current plans to stop Chinese companies from listing on U.S. bourses, Citigroup Inc. analysts including Alicia Yap wrote in a research note that U.S.-listed Chinese firms may see negative overhang to last for a while and those with American depositary receipts may consider a dual listing in Hong Kong and eventually listing back on the Chinese mainland.

“UCloud’s IPO approval is a milestone for China’s domestic capital market,” said Fu Lichun, analyst at Northeast Securities Co. “More and more tech firms with dual-class share structure may be encouraged to list domestically and the move may also attract overseas-listed Chinese companies to list back home,” said Fu.

China launched the STAR Market in the middle of this year, a new trading venue that is the only one currently allowing companies with dual-class share structure to go public. UCloud still needs to register with the China Securities Regulatory Commission for its offering.

Shanghai-based UCloud has a less than 5 percent share of China’s public cloud market, but the company has begun to turn a profit, making it the first public cloud service provider that can achieve a net profit in China, its founder and chief executive Ji Xinhua said. (SD-Agencies)