Backdoor Listing

An unlisted company buys control of a listed “shell” company and injects its own business to go public.

A backdoor listing means an unlisted company first acquires control of an already-listed company (the “shell”), then injects its own assets and business into it, achieving a public listing while bypassing the queue for a traditional initial public offering (IPO). On China's A-share market, once a change of control is followed by an asset injection above a certain size, regulators treat it as a “restructuring listing,” reviewed under standards close to those for an IPO. Embodied-AI companies tend to carry high valuations and heavy losses, and a traditional IPO takes a long time, so when one takes control of a listed company, the market often reads it as a possible backdoor-listing signal: in July 2025, AgiBot announced it had acquired about 63.62% of STAR Market-listed Shangwei New Materials, and in 2026 UBTECH completed taking control of Fenglong Co. Both companies publicly stated they had no backdoor-listing plans within three years, so coverage should be read carefully to distinguish “taking a controlling stake” from “actually injecting assets.”

ExampleAfter AgiBot took control of Shangwei New Materials, Shangwei continued operating its consumer-robotics business independently under the “Swancor Qiyuan” brand, rather than immediately folding in all of AgiBot's business.

Also called

Reverse Takeover (RTO), Shell Listing

Related

Swancor Advanced Materials · Zhejiang Fenglong Electric · AgiBot · STAR Market · HKEX Chapter 18C · Special Purpose Acquisition Company

Sources

智元机器人拟收购上纬新材63.62%股份（华尔街见闻） (Chinese)
锋龙股份再回应：优必选三年内不会借壳上市（新京报） (Chinese)
Reverse takeover - Wikipedia

As of

2026-04