The Shenzhen Stock Exchange has announced the agenda for its Listing Review Committee's 40th meeting in 2026, revealing that Ningbo LYGEND RESOURCE (HKG: 02245) is scheduled for review on July 7, 2026. As an established company already listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, LYGEND RESOURCE is poised to become the first full-scale "H-Share to A-Share" listing project on the main board since the implementation of the comprehensive registration-based IPO system. This potential return not only pioneers a new model for multinational resource companies to leverage the domestic capital market to support their overseas strategic layouts but also stands to become a landmark case for H-share companies seeking A-share listings in recent years. The move by LYGEND RESOURCE to list on the A-share market is seen as a proactive response to the national Belt and Road Initiative and the new "dual circulation" development paradigm. This successful practice of "industrial strength plus policy alignment" provides a clear reference path for other multinational Chinese companies considering a return to the A-share market.

Multinational Giant Deeply Rooted in the Belt and Road

LYGEND RESOURCE has long transcended the single boundaries of traditional trading or manufacturing firms, evolving into a nickel industry chain service provider with a global perspective. Starting with nickel product trading, the company has, through over a decade of dedicated effort, completed a vertically integrated layout spanning from resource procurement and smelting to end-user sales. Its industrial network deeply covers Belt and Road countries including China and Indonesia. According to a CIC report, in the nickel product trading sector, LYGEND RESOURCE's trade volume ranked first globally in 2024, accounting for approximately 10.4% of the global nickel product market demand that year. Concurrently, the company was also China's largest nickel ore supplier, holding a market share of about 35.8%.

In the production sector, the company also demonstrates formidable strength. Its HPAL (High-Pressure Acid Leach) project on Indonesia's Obi Island is among the world's most technologically advanced and lowest cash-cost projects of its kind. As of the end of 2024, based on the annual designed capacity of its controlled projects, the company ranked second globally among stably operating HPAL-based hydrometallurgical projects, with a market share of 19.7%. In terms of specific capacity layout, the company's Obi Island industrial park in Indonesia has completed a hydrometallurgical project with an annual capacity of 120,000 metal tonnes of nickel-cobalt compounds and a pyrometallurgical project with an annual capacity of 185,000 metal tonnes of ferronickel.

Sustained high growth in performance is the best testament to LYGEND RESOURCE's robust capabilities. According to its prospectus, the company's operating revenue for 2023, 2024, and 2025 was RMB 21.286 billion, RMB 29.846 billion, and RMB 40.255 billion respectively, demonstrating strong momentum. Over the same period, net profit attributable to owners of the parent company grew from RMB 1.050 billion to RMB 2.862 billion, indicating a significant enhancement in profitability. This impressive performance is underpinned by robust demand from two major downstream markets—new energy vehicles and stainless steel—as well as the steady ramp-up of the company's own production capacity.

Entering 2026, the company's growth drivers have further strengthened. The recently released prospectus indicates that the company's operating revenue for 2026 is projected to reach approximately RMB 56.413 billion, representing year-on-year growth of about 40.14%. Net profit attributable to owners of the parent company is expected to be around RMB 3.616 billion, a year-on-year increase of approximately 26.35%. With the KPS pyrometallurgical project now in full production, coupled with the continued rise in nickel product prices against the backdrop of tightening nickel ore supply in Indonesia, the "volume and price rising together" dynamic provides solid support for earnings growth.

Strong Endorsement from Both Regulators and Local Government

The industrial layout of LYGEND RESOURCE is seen as precisely aligning with the national policy focus on strategic resource security and the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative. This has garnered systematic and comprehensive support from central ministries to local governments. From a regulatory policy perspective, the China Securities Regulatory Commission has consistently signaled its support in recent years, explicitly encouraging leading domestic companies to list in Hong Kong while actively guiding high-quality red-chip and H-share companies to return to the A-share market, thereby expanding the policy space for cross-market capital operations. As a "chain leader" enterprise in the nickel industry chain, LYGEND RESOURCE, with its mature business model, stable operating performance, and substantial scale, fully meets the positioning requirements for "large-cap blue-chip" companies on the SZSE main board. Its A-share listing application thus enjoys clear institutional support at the policy level.

From an industrial policy standpoint, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and six other departments, in the "Work Plan for Stabilizing Growth in the Nonferrous Metals Industry," explicitly proposed "cultivating 'chain leader' enterprises for important nonferrous metals industry chains such as nickel," supporting smelting enterprises in signing long-term purchase agreements with foreign mining companies and increasing imports of raw materials like nickel concentrate. LYGEND RESOURCE's strategic presence on Indonesia's Obi Island has successfully established a secure supply chain channel of "overseas resources-domestic application." Its projects have not only been included in Zhejiang Province's list of Belt and Road achievements but were also incorporated into the signing outcomes of the third Belt and Road Forum for Business Cooperation.

At a deeper level, against the macro backdrop of the nation's high prioritization of strategic mineral resource security, the A-share return of LYGEND RESOURCE carries strategic significance that transcends mere corporate financing. China is the world's largest nickel consumer, yet domestic reserves are limited, leading to a long-standing high dependence on foreign supply. For this A-share listing, LYGEND RESOURCE plans to allocate all raised funds to the demonstration project for resource utilization of hydrometallurgical residue and the MHP refining production project on Obi Island, Indonesia. The essence of this move is to further extend the industrial chain and enhance comprehensive resource utilization efficiency based on existing overseas production capacity, thereby strengthening the resource supply guarantee capability for domestic downstream industries. From this perspective, the return of LYGEND RESOURCE is not merely a cross-market capital operation but resonates with the national "dual circulation" strategy and the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Local government support for LYGEND RESOURCE has been equally sustained and robust. As a key enterprise in the Yinzhou District of Ningbo, the company has long been included in the local "chain leader" enterprise cultivation system. Its A-share listing process is a key project for the local government to promote the use of dual capital platforms by leading local companies to enhance competitiveness. In June 2026, Wang Cheng, Deputy Secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Ningbo Municipal Party Committee, led a delegation to the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, explicitly expressing hope that HKEX would support Ningbo enterprises in utilizing international capital, help qualified, capable, and promising companies enhance their core competitiveness, and promote more high-quality enterprises to access the capital markets. In this government-led capital market engagement, LYGEND RESOURCE was positioned as a typical representative of the "H+A" strategic layout—leveraging its established Hong Kong-listed platform for international development while solidifying its domestic capital foundation through the Shenzhen main board listing process. The continuous endorsement and policy resource tilt from the government have, in effect, provided LYGEND RESOURCE with solid administrative backing.

From a broader perspective, the A-share return process of LYGEND RESOURCE reflects a profound shift in the capital market's perception of the value of companies that have "gone global." Chinese enterprises that possess core assets in Belt and Road countries and have the capacity for global resource allocation are becoming strategically scarce investment targets in the A-share market.

In summary, the A-share listing of LYGEND RESOURCE represents a perfect resonance of "industrial strength and policy tailwinds." As the first case of an H-share Belt and Road resource company returning to the A-share market, it not only promises to complete the company's financing puzzle in the A-share market but is also poised to open a new chapter in its globalized development under the dual support of regulators and local government, thereby establishing a significant landmark worthy of in-depth study for those that follow.