The booming Chinese mainland stockmarket will lure the country's largest
mobile operator back from overseas bourses in the first half of next year, a
newspaper reported Saturday.
The Hong Kong and New York-listed China Mobile has chosen underwriters and is
likely to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in the yuan-denominated
A-share market, the Shanghai-based 21st Century Business Herald quoted an
unidentified source close to the company as saying.
The company declined to answer questions, saying it was waiting for
instructions from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the country's
securities market watchdog.
Wang Jianzhou, president of China Mobile, said in May that he expected a
mainland listing, but there was no timetable.
A home listing would give its customers and mainland investors a chance to
share the company's profits, Wang was quoted as saying.
The company saw its market value top all other telecommunications operators
in the world at 132.58 billion U.S. dollars on Aug. 10 on the New York bourse.
The long bearish mainland stock market forced many Chinese companies to go
public in Hong Kong or foreign markets, with the net assets of top ten Chinese
firms listed overseas almost 3.5 times that of the biggest ten mainland-listed
firms.
However, a remarkable rally in the A-share market this year has boosted the
confidence of investors and companies.
The Hushen 300 Index, a major index of the A-share market, posted a
121-percent rise this year, a higher growth than any other stock market in the
world.
The government is encouraging almost 130 state-owned enterprises listed
overseas to return to the mainland stock markets.
By returning to the mainland stock market, state-owned companies would make
domestic capital market more valuable to investors and set examples of standard
operation and corporate governance improvements for other home-listed firms,
said Shao Ning, vice director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and
Administration Commission of the State Council.
Major Hong Kong-listed companies are on the waiting list to return, including
petroleum giant PetroChina and insurance heavyweight Ping An Insurance.
Guangshen Railway, originally listed in Hong Kong, made its debut on the
Shanghai Stock Exchange last Friday.
China Life, one of the first overseas-listed Chinese life insurers, plans to
debut on the Shanghai market on Jan. 9, 2007.