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Representatives from Wankai New Material Co Ltd pose for a photo after the company went public on the ChiNext Market of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on March 29. [Photo by Wankai New Material Co Ltd for chinadaily.com.cn]

Wankai New Material Co Ltd, which is based in Jiaxing, East China's Zhejiang province went public on the ChiNext Market of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on March 29, making it the third company in the city to be listed this year.

The initial offering price for Wankai (stock code SZ.301216) was 35.68 yuan ($5.61) per share. The company raised 3.06 billion yuan on its first day of trading – the largest ever raised by a Zhejiang company on the ChiNext Market.

The raised capital will be used for projects related to food-grade PET polymer material and multi-functional green polymer material. It will also be used as working capital.

Wankai relocated from Xiaoshan in Hangzhou to Haining, a city administered by Jiaxing, in 2008. Focused on the research and development, manufacturing, and marketing of bottle-grade PET materials, Wankai owns manufacturing bases in Haining and Chongqing that have a combined annual production capacity of 1.8 million metric tons.

Wankai's clients include NongFu Spring, Coca Cola, C'estbon, and Danone, and its products have been exported to more than 100 countries and regions, including Russia, Egypt and Nigeria.

Jiaxing is currently home to 73 listed companies with a combined market value of 902.7 billion yuan. By 2025, Jiaxing is expected to be home to more than 100 listed companies with a total market value of 1 trillion yuan, according to the local municipal financial office.

The city is also encouraging listed companies to refinance, leading to Jiaxing companies receiving record-high direct financing of 35.89 billion yuan in 2021.