Three Companies Set to Win Final IPO Approvals

飞雪寒冰

Three companies are expected to win final approval to list on the domestic stock market in the first A-share initial public offerings since September, a person familiar with the matter told Caijing.

Underwriters of Guilin Sanjin Pharmaceutical Co., Shenzhen Salubris Pharmaceuticals Co. and Zhejiang Wanma Cable Co. are expecting a green light from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said the person, who asked not to be identified.

The person added that the three are expected to release their IPO prospectuses next week.

飞雪寒冰

The CSRC earlier issued revised IPO rules to feature auction-based issues, with an aim to give small investors more opportunity to obtain shares and to reduce the disparity between share offer prices and first-day trading prices.

Some 33 companies passed CSRC panel review before IPOs were suspended, and are still awaiting final approval to go public. The companies plan to issue a combined 14.4 billion shares, with most underwritten by Ping An Securities, China Merchants Securities and GF Securities.

China State Construction Engineering Corp. has the largest pending offering of 12 billion shares. Its underwriter is China International Capital Corp.

Everbright Securities Co., Sichuan Expressway Co. (HK 0107) and China Merchants Securities Co. also plan to issue 520 million shares, 359 million shares and 500 million shares, respectively.

Everbright's underwriter is Orient Securities Co., while Sichuan Expressway's is China Galaxy Securities. Goldman Sachs Gaohua Securities and UBS Securities are co-lead underwriters for China Merchants Securities.

飞雪寒冰

Guilin Sanjin, which won initial China Securities Regulatory Commission approval to list on June 23, 2008, plans to issue 46 million A-shares. China Merchants Securities Co. will underwrite the issue. Guilin Sanjin is one of China's leading producers of traditional Chinese medicine and booked sales revenue of just over 1 billion yuan in 2007, according to its website.

Shenzhen Salubris is expected to issue 28.5 million new shares, also underwritten by China Merchants Securities. The company won CSRC panel approval on Sept. 8, 2008.

Zhejiang Wanma is expected to issue 50 million new shares, underwritten by Ping An Securities. The company, which first won CSRC approval for an IPO on July 4, 2008, is one of China's leading original equipment manufacturers of telecommunications products.

A person close to the regulator told Caijing earlier that the CSRC will hold a meeting on June 18 to set detailed plans for the resumption of IPOs.

Meanwhile, the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges have completed testing of their IPO auction systems. They are about to issue revised guidelines in line with the latest policy changes, according to a person close to the bourses.