Regulator lifts suspension on IPOs
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-12-14 17:19

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said the country will end a near four-month suspension of initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2005 when institutional investors will have more say in pricing, Xinhua news agency reported.

From Jan. 1, companies and underwriters wanting to launch IPOs must seek the opinions of at least 20 potential institutional investors before they price their stock, Xinhua cited the securities watchdog as saying.

“The new system is supposed to give investors more say in the pricing process and better protect investors’ interests by presenting more factual financial figures of the listing applicants,” Xinhua said.

“The final IPO price will be decided upon the results of this inquiry,” it said.

The CSRC has suspended all IPOs since Aug. 31 while it drafted the new IPO pricing rules.

In another development CSRC announced Sunday a program to reform the way of collecting annual fees for trading seats on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges.

The fundamental point of the program is to adjust the way of such fee collection from the annual fee system to collection according to turnover. This is aimed to establish a market-oriented charge system, the CSRC said.

Observers here point out that the move will help reduce the annual trading seat fee payment of the members and other players with seats on the two bourses, and in turn lower the trading cost.

The reform program will be implemented within this year, i.e. the annual fees for this year will be collected according to the new way.

The mainland’s two stock exchanges were created in the early 1990s in a membership trading system.

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