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Nasdaq sees over 30 China listings in 2010

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-12-15 16:49

Nasdaq OMX Group is aiming to host more than 30 new listings from Greater China companies in 2010, drawing on investor appetites for plays in the world's fastest growing major economy, a senior executive said on Monday.

A total of 30 companies from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau had listed shares on the main Nasdaq board so far this year, bringing the total to date to 121, said Yeeli Hua Zheng, chief representative of Nasdaq in China.

"I believe next year will be better than this year," she said in an interview on the sidelines of a financial forum.

Stock exchanges around the world are competing for business and new listings from China, as Beijing maps out plans to develop domestic capital markets.

China has 10 million small and mid-sized companies starved for loans from domestic banks, which favor big State-owned enterprises.

In October, China's stock regulator introduced its own new growth enterprise board, the ChiNext market, to provide badly needed funding to start-ups.

Zheng said her company had acted as advisor to ChiNext and was not worried about any potential threat posed by the Shenzhen-based exchange because of the huge number of quality companies in China, now the world's third-biggest economy.

"China is home to millions of enterprises. If even a tiny portion of them go overseas, it would be a big number," Zheng said. "We hope Chinese companies can go abroad after domestic listing so that their investor base can be expanded."

Shanghai IPO

She reiterated that the New York-based bourse was in talks with Chinese regulators to float its shares on an international board that China is planning but has yet to announce details for.

"We've been pushing forward the process and negotiating with regulators, exploring a China listing as a company entity," Zheng said.

Market observers are expecting the first listings on the new board in Shanghai next year by foreign companies and red-chips, or Chinese companies that have their business on the mainland but are incorporated outside China and listed on overseas bourses, usually Hong Kong.

A number of companies, including global banking giant HSBC and the world's biggest wireless carrier China Mobile, have expressed interest in listing on the international board.

NYSE Euronext, the parent of the New York Stock Exchange and a rival to Nasdaq, is also keen to list in China.