Lenovo Group Limited (SEHK:992) is seeking shareholders’ approval to sell Chinese depositary receipts (CDRs) in Shanghai, in a move that further opens the city’s stock exchange for offshore companies to raise capital. The owner of the IBM Thinkpad laptop brand is seeking to issue 1.3 billion new shares, or 10% of its enlarged capital, through CDRs, Lenovo said in a January 12, 2021 announcement to the Hong Kong stock exchange, without specifying the amount raised. Based on January 12, 2021 closing price of HKD 8.05 per share, Lenovo’s CDR sale could raise up to HKD 10.8 billion ($1.4 billion). The pending sale would be a breakthrough for Shanghai’s Science Technology and Innovation Board, or Star Market, in its pitch to attract China’s technology champions and most promising start-ups to raise capital in their home ground. Lenovo, with a market value of HKD 106 billion, would be the kind of flagship that the Star Market needs to attract followers. “A successful test case by Lenovo could encourage other ‘red-chip’ companies to follow suit,” said China Renaissance’s head of macro and strategy research Bruce Pang, because “there are concerns and lack of clarity about whether CDRs are fungible to stocks in offshore markets”.