First STAR-listed company added to MSCI China Index

Beijing Kingsoft Office Software will be included in the latest update of MSCI's China share index, MSCI said on Thursday. It will also be the first SSE STAR-listed company to join the globally-recognized benchmark.

The inclusion, effective as of February 28, will bring global capital and attention into the company and the SSE STAR Market, China's Nasdaq-style board aiming at supporting tech startups.

In total, the updated MSCI China All Shares Index will see nine additions and three deletions. The three largest additions to the index, measured by full company market capitalization, will be Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, People's Insurance and Beijing Kingsoft, according to MSCI.

Beijing Kingsoft, which listed on the STAR Market in Shanghai in November, closed recently with a share price of 220.5 yuan (US$31.5), giving it a total market value of 101.7 billion yuan. Comparatively, its IPO price was 45.9 yuan per share. 

The company offers software and online services for users, similar to Microsoft’s Office suite.