China new companies market to begin IPOs

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-21 14:39

SHANGHAI: Companies approved for listing on China's Nasdaq-style new Growth Enterprise Board will begin selling shares in their initial public offerings from this Friday, as regulators prepare to review more applications.

By Monday, 10 companies had issued prospectuses for listing on the new board run by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, which is meant to nurture private companies that struggle to get financing in a system favoring big state enterprises.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has approved all 13 companies that have applied to list shares. Two more batches due to be reviewed this week, China's state run television reported.

No date has been announced for the start of trading on the new exchange, but news reports say it could be as early as next month. It will be located in Shenzhen, the southern financial center near Hong Kong that is the site of the smaller of China's two stock exchanges.

The companies that have issued prospectuses on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's Web site are: Qingdao Tgood Electric Co., Beijing Ultrapower Software Co., Lepu Medical Technology (Beijing) Co., Nanfang Ventilator Co., Beijing Toread Outdoor Product Co., Chongqing Lummy Pharmaceutical Co., Henan Hanwei Electronics Co., Shanghai Bestway Marine Engineering Design Co., Anhui Anke Biotechnology (Group) Ltd. and Beijing Lanxum Technology Co.

The companies, in pharmaceutical, technology and software, plan to issue a total 246.1 million shares and hope to raise over 2 billion yuan (about $300 million), state media have reported.

The government received 108 applications for listing on the new board the day it started accepting proposals July 26.

Although the size of the share offerings is dwarfed by those of much bigger companies on the main boards in Shenzhen and Shanghai, the exchange offers a new option for Chinese investors. Foreign investors are still largely excluded from trading in Chinese currency-denominated shares.