BIZCHINA / News
China Mobile huge sell off 'plan'
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-06-19 11:25
China Mobile, the world's largest cellular phone operator, is planning a
multibillion-dollar share sale in Shanghai as early as next month to
attract domestic investors, sources familiar with the situation said on
Monday.
It will likely be the biggest initial public offer of equity ever in
China's domestic markets, exceeding Industrial & Commercial Bank of
China's 46.6 billion yuan ($6.1 billion) Shanghai IPO last year, the
banking sources said.
China Mobile hired KPMG to audit its proposed Shanghai listing late last
year. An auditing report has been completed and submitted in a package of
listing documents to regulators in Beijing for consideration, said the
sources.
"All the necessary documents are well prepared now. The timing of the
listing is up to Beijing, but the company definitely aims for as soon as
July," said one of the sources.
China Mobile has also hired Goldman Sachs Gaohua Securities to advise on
its Shanghai listing, the sources said.
"We don't have a timeframe for an A-share listing. But that's always been
the company's intention," a Hong Kong-based China Mobile spokeswoman said.
Hong Kong's Chinese-language Apple Daily newspaper, citing an unnamed
mainland Chinese source, said the deal could raise as much as 80 billion
yuan. China Mobile shares were up 3.63 percent at HK$78.55 in Hong Kong
on Monday afternoon.
Beijing has been encouraging its leading domestic companies to list
shares at home, aiming to further develop its capital markets and give
local investors more stocks to trade.
Beijing has selected China Mobile as the first of several major Hong
Kong-listed Chinese "red chips" that are expected to list in Shanghai by
the end of this year, the sources said.
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Top regulators in Beijing have said they were drafting new rules to allow
red chips to float shares on mainland bourses.
Three other major red chips, PetroChina, China Telecom and Shenhua
Energy, are expected to list in Shanghai before the end of this year,
after China Mobile, the sources said.
Beijing is also considering, as part of its long-term economic strategy,
establishing a special board within the Shanghai Stock Exchange to
attract listings by China-focused overseas companies such as HSBC
Holdings Plc. and Bank of East Asia, the sources said.
Officials at the Shanghai bourse declined to comment.
"China Mobile is a pilot and if its listing goes successfully, you will
see many others like China Mobile listing domestically," another of the
sources said.
The source added that Beijing was expected to speed up its IPO approval
process to meet increasing investor demand for shares amid ample market
liquidity.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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