(Yicai Global) April 4 -- Haier Biomedical, a unit under Chinese home appliance giant Haier Group, is scrapping plans to list in Hong Kong as it looks to go public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's new board dedicated to innovative science and tech firms.

The Shandong province-based firm plans to raise CNY1 billion (USD149 million) through the Shanghai listing, according to a prospectus posted on the SSE's website yesterday. Around half of the money raised will go toward researching and developing new products, CNY300 million will go toward expanding production capacity and the remainder will be used to expand sales networks.

Haier Biomedical already began increasing capacity in January last year, and hopes to finish the expansion by the end of 2019. Its final capacity would be 200,000 units a year, with four production lines making thermostatic, ultra-low temperature, biological safety and irregular shaped refrigeration cabinets.

This is the first instance of Haier Group incubating a smaller company and spinning it off onto to the capital market. The parent's Chairman Zhang Ruimin and other executives will all indirectly hold shares in the new company, according to the prospectus.

Haier Biomed has made multiple mergers and acquisitions at home and overseas to accelerate growth since 2011. It bought Biomedical UK, which repairs and sells electronic and optical devices, in 2011; acquired Labtech's sample storage products and biosafety cabinets business in 2015; and purchased Biomedical India in 2017, which focuses on making and selling low-temperature freezers and refrigeration equipment.

The subsidiary made CNY115 million (USD17 million) in profit last year on revenue of CNY840 million. It is China's biggest maker of low-temperature fridges for medical use.

The unit plans to develop and supply comprehensive biotechnological solutions based on the Internet of Things in future. It also aims to customize IoT solutions for vaccinations and clinical blood use, and offer clients smart storage solutions for biomedical devices and samples.

Editor: James Boynton