Olswang has advised domestic Chinese B2B e-commerce operator JQW plc on its admission to trading on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM). The placing has raised £6.7m and market capitalisation on admission was £135m.  Dealings commenced on 9 December 2013 at 8:00am.

JQW was originally set up to offer web site design to local businesses in and around the southern region of China, when relatively few businesses had websites. The group launched its B2B e-commerce portal www.jqw.com in 2004, offering a central website to its clients to promote their businesses. Since 2008 JQW has grown rapidly, with their .com domain ranking second, behind Alibaba, in the top 10 Chinese B2B e-commerce websites in terms of web traffic in July 2013.

The net proceeds of the placing, along with existing cash resources, will be used by the group to further strengthen its robust platform offering as a SME B2B e-commerce service provider in China. JQW will also focus some of the proceeds on expanding its marketing and advertising programme by increasing its own internal sales department, establishing a "Quasi-Franchise" scheme to attract new sales agencies and building a bilingual e-commerce platform in English, to help attract international members and promote the group's fee paying members in China to a global market.

Commenting on the decision to float on AIM, Yongde Cai, Chairman of JQW plc, said: "JQW's admission on AIM is an extremely exciting opportunity for the group. The funds raised will help to support the further development of the JQW brand and expansion into other provinces in China, as well as internationally. It was crucial for the success of our IPO to have Olswang on our side, helping us with their international expertise and their understanding our how technology businesses operate, both in Asia and Europe."

Partner Azlinda Ariffin-Boromand, who led the transaction, commented: "Emerging market companies are staging a return on the London Stock Exchange. It was a pleasure to support JQW in their AIM admission, which brings a high growth market to the London investment scene, promising to deliver great returns for UK investors looking further than London-based tech start-ups. With internet penetration in China currently at only 49% there is plenty of scope for development and much to be gained from connecting Asia with Europe."

The Olswang team was led by Partner Azlinda Ariffin-Boromand, who was supported by Senior Associate Katie Nagy de Nagybaczon and associates Abigail Wahnon, Poppy Weston-Davies, trainees Louise Gordon-Jones, Alasdair Lamb and Louise Forbes.