Top Biz News

Nine companies participate in state-shareholding reform

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-08-07 14:35

Nine more Chinese firms announced on Monday to float shares previously barred from trading on the stock markets.

To date, 1,125 Chinese firms listed domestically have completed or are carrying out state-shareholding reform, accounting for 80.2 percent of the total market value of all shares on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets.

That figure indicates the country's one-year-long state-shareholding reform is drawing to an end as less than 20 percent of the listed firms have not been involved in the reform.

The reform, also known as split share structure reform, together with legislative reform for listed firms and corporate governance, is part of the measures the government has taken to revive the capital market and improve its financial security.

Split share structure refers to the existence of both tradable shares and non-tradable shares owned by the state.

To make all the shares tradable, listed companies undergoing reform have to offer additional shares or funds to private investors as compensation for potential losses in the value of their portfolios when the publicly-owned shares hit the market.

The nine companies are mainly engaged in papermaking, boiler manufacture, petroleum, and real estate.

Six companies are state-controlled shareholding companies, and the total market value of the nine firms reaches 20.98 billion yuan (2.6 billion U.S. dollars).

The reform has been viewed by the regulator and investors as vital for the capital market to function as an open and fair market for both majority and minority public shareholders.